celestial seed
by ninja of the shadows
Summary: this is based on the story "eyes in seed" with permission from the writer. noah wished to expand the horizons of gunpla battles and let gundam fans try to change the fates of some of their favorite universes. but something goes wrong...now he gets to go from testing his new simulation system to piloting a gundam in true combat...good thing he built it right?
1. the tale begins

**I do not own the rights to Gundam Seed, 00 or Gundam Build Fighter/Try. All characters that are not mine or owned by their respective series creators. Please enjoy. Some may also notice similarities between this fanfic and another for the basic idea, I do have the original writer, nemesis aster's permission to do this. All credit for the awesome plot device your read about in a moment goes to him/her.**

**My apologies for the past 2…or like 3 attempts to fix this, hopefully this fixes it. The problem was it was also putting my changes in.**

***update to previous remark. finally fixed it. please enjoy.**

_Pursue your dreams= _scene alteration.

**Bold wording means an author's note.**_  
_  
Chapter 01

Darkness was all that surrounded him. He was alone, sitting comfortably in the custom pilot seat as the system began to hum to life. A small pedestal rose between his knees. "Please set your GP Base." The voice wasn't the same boring tone as the other OS systems. The voice spoke in a soft, female Japanese voice, which kept him at ease as the trial was about to begin. He reached forward, GP Base in hand. It clicked as it plugged into the system, blinking to life with the stats of his gunpla. His name landed in both the Builder and Fighter's spaces. Stats read off below with the model number and the name of his chosen gunpla. He couldn't help but smile as everything was working so far. To his right was a yellow haptic of orange/yellow hard light generated by the Plavsky Particles that sprung up with glowing words all but verbally shouting GO. Tapping the hard light button, it disappeared into flowing particles, collected by more as the screens and walls of glowing hard light began to form around him. Various colors chased away the darkness and illuminated his cramped confines. He exhaled with a smile, never noticing he was holding his breath. Shadows gave way and revealed short blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. The young man in his mid-twenties reached for the control orbs that formed just at the edge of his arm rests. Optional controls popped up at his touch and he carefully looked over them. A keyboard system appeared over his lap. With a simple twist of his wrist on the left orb, the keyboard was gone.

Before him on the main screen as an image of a closed hanger door. Tapping at a few controls to his side gave him access to the doors controls, and soon they began to part, revealing to him the void of space. Earth was just barely visible to the left, with nothing by endless space to the right. He released another deep breath. "Okay," he whispered. He sat straighter in the pilot's seat, safety belts tugging tightly as he adjusted. "Let's do this. Noah Carson, EX-caliber Gundam! Launching!"

At a shift of the controls, the screen shook as the gunpla, seen through its eyes, shot forward on the catapult and out into the void of space. The EX-caliber Gundam spun in the void, causing Noah to blink a little to get over the change in view. The machine turned around, allowing him to get a look at the ship he had launched from. He couldn't help but chuckle at the site of the classic White Base from the original Gundam anime series.

Noah's joyful moment was lost when a warning light flared. Radar picked up a squad of approaching enemies.

The EX-caliber Gundam turned, blood red and bright green colored optics flaring as it faced the approaching enemy machines. Simple Mock gunpla, twelve total with each equipped with standard weapons: shield, rifle, and saber or heat hawk. Noah wasted no time, the GN blade MK 3 swinging forward and the right arm drawing back. He sat in space, waiting patiently, the angry blood red left eye, blackened left collar piece and cloth covering the left arm gave it the appearance of having horrible maintenance and upkeep and had the mocks had pilots it would seem like it would be easy prey with only the GN blade on its right arm as its primary offense and defense. When the Mocks were within attack range, he swung wide. The blade caught two of the mocks at the hip, separating them at the waist and causing them to explode. The cloth covering the left arm flapped from the wind created by the blast as the mocks scattered. With a turn of Noah's head the machine turned to glance at a pair of mocks that were readying their rifles to fire on him from his right flank. He let a breath he was holding escape and calmly raised the right arm.

With the right arm raised one would think he needed to drop the blade for the GN repeater built into it to fire…but this one was based on the amazing GN sword used by the third Meijin Kawaguchi. The focusing lens on the shield which held the weapons system together shifted and opened to reveal a GN Vulcan and a flurry of red blasts flew from it. The mocks were caught in the red barrage and blew up. This was of course a distraction by the AI as more mocks with heat hawks and beam sabers flew in.

This forced Noah to dance between the attacks, drawing the blade back and using the shield to block their attacks or spinning and climbing or diving to dodge their attacks. The EX-caliber ducked low under another volley from 2 more with rifles. At that point he bit his lip as he flew at them, trying a risky tactic as the GN drive on his back spun up to increase his speed. The two mocks began to charge their rifles for a pair of concentrated blasts. As he flew towards them they prepared to fire, not realizing two of their comrades had foolishly followed him. Right when the two mocks fired he stopped completely then flew upwards out of their blast range. Lacking a GN drive or another form of high powered thrusters the two mocks following him were quickly disintegrated as he climbed above the ranged mocks and turned upside down "raising" his right arm up and sending a storm of red bolts down at them from the three barrels of the GN repeater. Once again the mocks were caught in the storm and destroyed.

He glanced at his radar. Four more down, four left, and all were wielding blades of some form. He smiled. That was his specialty. Well actually his specialty was making something look simple and non-threatening…but hiding many MANY secrets in it and making it very deadly. It was why his machine lent most of its gear and appearance to modified parts from the exia line of machines, including the meijin's exia amazing. He had new parts waiting outside the pod but didn't wish to test them just yet as they were also a few tweaks away from perfection.

With a pulse from his GN drive forming a red ring behind it he burst forward towards the four machines. Once again right as he came into striking range of a pair of mocks wielding heat hawks he juked to the left and the sword swung up into lock position as he turned the arm to make the slash sideways. But before it even locked into position it severed one mock in half before he thrust it forward to spear the second mocks chest with it just as it locked into position. He withdrew the blade from the simple models chest and flew back from the explosions before he boosted up to avoid a swing from the beam saber of one of the last two mocks.

He spun around in time to block the saber strike of the second saber mock. The spin though caused the cloth to fly open and show his hidden weapon. A heavily modified amazing shield. In appearance it was the same aside from the blue, now black bars on the side were open and away from the shield. If this had been a normal fight Noah would have done his best not to use this unless it really called for it. But given this was a practice fight he decided to test the shields newest gimmick.

He boosted back from the two mocks and brought the left arm up and the laid the shield flat, with the "bottom" facing the mocks. As they boosted at him the two black bars swung forward and soon had sparks flying between them. If one looked close they`d see the bottom of the shield was open, a slot just between the two bars. From there a yellow light began to shine. Then with an audibly snap a yellow orb shot out and smashed into the mock. It shoved it back for a moment before tearing through it, causing it to explode.

This was its new railgun mode. Deciding to change from the more common gundam railgun where it had a long barrel and housed the entire system within, he went for a realistic style of having the two blue bars, or "rails" charge up with electricity and magnetizing. Then it would release a small ball of plastic into the magnetically charge rails and fire it…like a rail gun.

With one mock left he let the bars swing back and the shield and arm once again hid behind the cloth curtain. The GN blade then swung forward and he timed it perfectly so he raised the blade…and let the mock spear itself with its shorter beam saber being inches from the cockpit of his machine. The mocks red optical sensor flashed and it's arm tried to finish the strike but ultimately it only put a black mark on the torso of the ex-caliber before he withdrew the blade and flew away to let it explode alone.

Pausing to look at his work, Noah saw the debris of his kills just floating around him. His Gundam… no, gunpla, floated in the void generated by Plavsky Particles. He frowned. Shifting the controls, the EX-caliber discarded the GN sword and raised the hand so Noah could see it. His work had bared fruit, giving the once plastic shell a realistic look. Unblemished E-Carbon GN Composite Armor had a thin layer of frost over its surface from the cold of space, which glistened as the sun began to rise over the opposite side of Earth.

The hand closed and the EX-caliber turned and looked down at the planet. _Which one could it be though_, Noah thought. If he had launched from the White Base of old Gundam, would this be the Earth of the UC timeline? He shook his head at the thought. Calling up the controls, he disengaged the system. The screen went black and hard light shattered into flowing particles that danced in the air before disappearing entirely. Claiming his GP Base, he hit a more solid button to the side, and the simulated cockpit opened with a hiss. His eyes narrowed as he looked to the real world, and sighed. He climbed out, taking a look at the line of running computers and cables that ran from their blocks to the enclosed simulator he was using for his work. The test had proven to work well within a cockpit like environment. Manipulating the particles to change to a better interface layout didn't take much work, even changing the OS. That bland voice was annoying too.

Noah's goal was close at hand. Only had one final test to perform and he was sure to change the face of gunpla Battling. His idea was highly influenced by the OVA short series of gunpla Builders Beginning G. To have gunpla battling placed within a similar environment to an actual cockpit. Gunpla was still needed of course, but more of a physical representation of one's MS to be used in the system. Like in Beginning G, the gunpla would be placed within a scanner and scanned, giving life within a computer generated environment that is manipulated by the Plavsky Particles. This entirely removed the safety issues in damage levels, preventing any damage to actually happen to the gunpla.

But therein lies a problem with his idea. The companies would probably frown on the idea considering they make large sums of money on people having to replace parts for the gunpla. That alone would probably halt his idea all together…

Which is why he hoped the next phase of his plan worked. He just needed someone to work with him on it. And once that was passed, he was sure to change things. Gunpla battles and Gundam may never be the same. But that was that project, for now he had some tweaks to make to his machine.

_Pursue your dreams_

a cobalt blue Chevy pulled into the parking lot of the river side lofts. Large building with massive housing areas for those who could afford it. It was a something to say the least. Luke Fielding climbed down from the vehicle, closing the door shut and locking it manually. It was a classic by its age, and didn't have any fancy buttons or remotes, so locking it with a key was mandatory. He adjusted his denim jacket as he slipped through the front door, stopped at a second door with a row of room numbers and buzzers beside each one to the left. Hitting the room he was looking for, he waited for a reply. It was only an hour ago he got an urgent call from his friend Noah, someone who he hadn't spoken to for going on two years. Not that they had a falling out or anything, the two just had been busy. Family life would do that to a man like Luke.

It still shocked Luke to get a call from Noah out of the blue, but the way his voice sounded worried him. The last he saw Noah, it was a month after his father passed away. He had been quiet, never saying a word during the funeral. Later he had learned that Noah had gained a large inheritance from him, and had gone off the grid for a bit without anyone knowing where he'd gone. Luke hadn't worried about him too much though. He'd known Noah since they were young, and though Noah wasn't a dedicated Church attendee, he had a firm belief that he'd go to hell if he took his own life. So Luke wasn't worried about hearing him committing suicide. But to all of a sudden call out of the blue and ask for a favor?

The buzz from the speaker drew his attention from his thoughts. "Yes?"

Luke moved to the speaker. "Hey, Noah? It's me, Luke."

The locked door instantly click and popped open. Luke blinked and made his way in, remembering Noah's instructions as to what floor and what loft was his. Climbing up to the top floor didn't take long, and considering there were very few doors between each loft, it wasn't hard to locate his. Luke was still shocked that Noah was staying in such a place.

Stepping to the door, he knocked twice. He only had to wait a few seconds before he heard the rattle of a lock and the door opened just barely for him to see his wayward friend peek out. Upon seeing Luke, Noah pulled the door open wider, a grin on his face. Luke couldn't help but return the smile, seeing Noah in higher spirits compared to the last time they saw each other.

"I'm glad you came," Noah said, stepping aside to let his friend in.

Luke stepped into the threshold and away from the door, taking in the sight of Noah's loft. Shockingly, there wasn't much decor. The room was mostly vacant, except a strew of cables and wires running from several electrical sockets scattered about, all leading into on particular direction that was just around the corner. He could see a kitchen in the far corner, clean and looked to have hardly been used with one dirty glass by the sink. There was a table with two chairs but nothing more. In another room, he could barely make out a futon mattress on the floor with a half discarded comforter to the left of it.

Hearing Noah close and lock the door, Luke turned to him as he began to walk past, the brunette waving for him to follow. "How've you been?" he asked.

Noah looked back with a shrug. "Been good."

Luke arched a brow. "That's it?" Noah paused, looking back. "I mean, no one has heard from you for nearly two years."

A look of guilt washed over Noah's face and he looked away to the floor. "Yea… I'll explain about that, but for right now, I need your help."

Hearing that pushed Luke into a more serious role. He didn't even realize he straightened up when he asked, "You in trouble or something?"

Noah gave a grin and shook his head. "No. But what I'm about to show you will change a lot of things, man." He gave a nod to follow and moved to turn around the corner.

Luke followed, again looking about the room. He stepped lightly over the many cables before turning the corner, only to pause as he looked at the number of computer towers and console screens that were humming with activity sitting on a U shaped table. At least he now knew where those cables were running. There were at least half a dozen of them on, each one running codes of which he had never seen before. Not that he was an expert in the matter. Surrounded the computers were a number of small fans, all on and blowing to help keep the systems cool. For an open room it was surprisingly warm considering it was the ass end of winter. But that was probably due to the amount of heat the computers were putting out.

Following the cables leading away from the computers, Luke finally took notice of the large metal block that sat at the far wall of the open room. It was inactive, a door opened up at the front. Inside he could see a chair; more accurately a pilot's seat. From the large box ran more lines to a sphere that sat on a pedestal next to it. The sphere was open and inside sat a gunpla he wasn't too familiar with but had a striking resemblance to the Exia gundam from 00 though it looked like it was in its repair 2 variant.

Noah stood in the center of the chaos of electronics, his arms held out. "What do you think?" His smile couldn't have been wider.

Luke looked about confused, his expression then aimed at Noah. "About what? What the hell are you doing here?"

Noah continued to smile as his arms dropped to his side. "What I am doing is changing the face of gunpla battles and much more."

Luke was familiar with the hobby/sport. He had a few gunpla of his own but he never went crazy with it like most did. Even partook a few battles for the fun of it. He was familiar with some of the older series of course but had dropped out of the anime trend some years back when life decided to throw him a wife and two kids. Though he secretly watching some of the more ecchi kind behind his wife's back.

"How exactly?" He could tell Noah was waiting for him to ask. It all but screamed from the look on his face.

He pointed at Luke as he moved to the open sphere. "Do you remember the OVA short Beginning G?" When he reached the sphere, he gently closed it and locked it down. A yellow light beamed from the seams before dying out completely.

Luke gave a shrug. "Vaguely. You told me about it once."

"Well the short series was what helped inspire Gunpla Battles. But unlike us, they didn't have Plavsky Particles. Everything they had ran off of a computer generated simulator that functioned with the aid of a scanning system and an actual cockpit environment to simulate what it would be like in the cockpit of a MS." Noah moved and sat down inside the simulator.

Luke followed, leaning on the edge of the 'hatch' and watched as a small pedestal rose up between his knees. Noah drew out a uniquely designed GP Base and placed it on the stand. Hitting a glowing button that appeared out of nowhere, the inside was lit up as the confined area was flowing with Plavsky particles, solidifying into the hard light controls that most battlers are familiar. Luke nodded his head impressed, reaching out and touching the glowing orange/yellow screen, feeling the warmth upon his touch. "That's pretty cool. You've removed the whole standing thing. I can see some people liking that better than standing for a long period of time in a battle. But that doesn't seem like much of a game changer in the whole Gunpla Battle thing." He drew his hand back and crossed his arms.

Noah continued to smirk. "This is just part of my plan. By implementing this system, one no longer needs to have their gunpla be damaged or outright destroyed due to a battle. I created the same scanning system that was used in Beginning G. It inputs the data of the gunpla into the system and with the Plavsky Particles, allow the battler to control it in a simulated environment."

"But therein lies the problem. Companies who produce the gunpla and parts for them won't sign on for something that stops the flow of purchase. If you make something that renders the need to replace damaged parts obsolete, they won't sign on for it."

"That is why the next part will get their attention," Noah said, shutting the particles down and removing the GP Base. Pocketing the small device, Noah rest comfortably in the pilot's seat, smug look on his face. "Tell me, has there ever been a part in any of the Gundam series that you wanted to take part in, or change?"

Luke looked away in thought, hand resting to his chin. "Not sure. Though there were some times in Victory Gundam I wished they hadn't killed off so many characters."

"Imagine if you could change that."

Luke blinked and looked back at Noah, whose grin seemed to become almost evil. "Change?"

Noah rose up, passing Luke and approached the row of computers. "I've input every bit of information pertaining to any and ALL Gundam series, side's stories, and novels into these systems. Each one with a running program that plots out determined and mathematical events that could happen should something interfere with the already set current events. Even running interactive dialogue for what would happen should something change."?

"So if you change something, the system predicts the next course of actions to follow based on the highest and most likely of outcomes to follow based on a percentage level."

Noah nodded. "To the highest number."

"Altering destiny within the series."

"Exactly!" Noah threw his hands out to the sides. "I've created my own ZERO System!"

The hum of the computers was all that was heard in the deafening silence that followed Noah's claim. He stood still in the same pose, waiting for Luke to reply.

And how could he? Here he was listening to the ramblings of a childhood friend who claimed he made his own version of the ZERO System from Gundam Wing. Luke could only pace away, hand running through his short blonde hair as he ran over everything Noah had just said. He wasn't a fool, Luke was sure of that. Noah had attended college to learn as much as he could about Plavsky Particles when they were first brought into the public, wanting so passionately to do things with it that no one else did. Of course many had managed to beat him to it and as one could see, they made millions off of it.

He paused and looked to Noah. "What do you plan to do with this?"

Noah's hands dropped, one however pointing to the computers. "Fans will get their wish. They'll be able to fight in the most epic battles in any Gundam series and have their actions affect the outcome. Not just interfering and the story continue as if nothing happened. They can change, everything!" Noah's hand dropped and shook his head. "The only thing they can't do is interact outside the MS with the characters. All interactions are limited to the MS and vocal communications."

"Okay. So how do I play a part in this?" Luke asked, folding his arms.

"I've tested everything but the ZERO System…"

"You're really calling it that?"

"…yes. Only till I figure something else to call it!"

"Okay, okay." Luke looked to the machines then to the simulator. "And so I'm guessing you need me to watch and make sure you don't go crazy and want to destroy a colony?" he joked, throwing a sly grin in Noah's direction.

Noah approached, hand resting on Luke's shoulder. "This works, and we make millions, I'll bring you in on it man. You and your family will never have to worry about money again."

"IF it works. I know everything else you've done so far, someone else has done like you said. But this… destiny predicting ZERO System of yours is new territory. Something you said yourself you haven't tested."

"Once we work the kinks out of it, every company in the world will be beating down the door to buy the rights." Noah turned and made for the simulator. "So we need to begin as soon as possible."

Luke blinked. "What, you mean now?" He watched Noah climb in, connecting the GP Base. "Wait a minute, what are you doing?"

"Like I said, we're going to test it. At least I will." Noah looked to the computers with a nod. "They're already pre-set for the intended series and time of insertion, as I like to call it," he said with a grin.

"What series?"

"Seed."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Really? Seed?" Noah nodded. "Couldn't you have picked a better one than that?"

"It's just for test purposes."

"And what, and I can't believe I'm saying this, mobile suit will you be using to help you change the course of the Gundam franchise?"

Noah smirked. "I'll be using my EX-caliber Gundam from Gundam 00."

"Didn't want to use Wing Zero, or something less custom?"

Noah gave a shrug. "Wanted to use something that suited my fighting style. Plus she's not that over powered and since the most powerful machine in that series is a ranged fighter it'll be perfect on the off chance I somehow keep Kira from getting the freedom and have to fight it."

"She?"

Noah narrowed his eyes. "Don't judge me."

Luke held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not." He let his hands drop to his sides, facial expression going serious again. "When this is over though, I want to know where you've been and what you've been doing since you disappeared."

Noah nodded. "I'll tell you everything."

"Good." Luke tapped twice on the side of the machine and stepped back. He watched Noah give a mock salute as the hatch lowered down and clicked with a hiss.

The machine began to hum and Luke stepped a good few feet away from it. Lines of light like the sphere began to appear at certain area of the machine, glowing a blue/green color. He guessed it was the Plavsky Particles. Looking to the machines, he saw they too were changing. New data began to stream across the screens, looking like something from the Matrix. He moved close, trying to see if he could understand anything that swam across the screen but it might as well been a foreign language to him. None of it made since and he was surprised it did to Noah.

He looked back to the machine, seeing the flow of light along the panels. Aside from the humming it made, it was surprisingly quiet.

And just as it had started, the machine instantly shut off with a slow whine. The glow from the panels was gone. Luke blinked and approached, wondering if something had gone wrong. The hatch opened and Luke was a little surprised at what he saw inside.

When Noah had gone in, he was wearing a simple brown hoodie and denim jeans. What he wore now looked like a decent cosplay replica of a flight suit from Gundam Seed. It was outlined in a black/red color with a white center. Same for the helmet.

Luke crossed his arms and frowned at Noah, not finding whatever joke he was playing very amusing. "You change clothes quick for a guy who was only in there for two minutes," he said. He waited for Noah's response, but frowned when he didn't get one. "Noah?"

Luke nearly jumped when Noah snapped his head up, looking around frantically. He reached for the helmet, cracking a switch. Luke could hear the hiss of air as the suit adjusted to the environment. Noah pulled off the helmet, and Luke was surprised his hair was a good few inches longer than before. Not to mention he was sporting a nasty looking cut on his left cheek. When Noah looked to Luke, he started to shake. He climbed out slowly, examining the room like a scared animal.

Luke kept his distance, afraid that the machine had done what he had only joked about a few minutes ago, and that Noah was losing it. But how was his hair so long now? It wasn't a wig. Looked way to real for that. And Luke didn't see that outfit tucked away anywhere inside when he was examining it earlier.

"Luke?" Noah asked with a tone of fear. "Is that you?"

"Who the hell else would it be? This isn't funny Noah, cut the crap." Before Luke knew it, Noah's arms were around him in a hug. Not know what the hell was going on, Luke pushed at arm's length. He paused though when he saw tears in Noah's eyes. "Dude what the fuck happened to you?"

"How…how long was I gone?" Noah asked.

"Gone? Dude you were only in there for a few minutes."

The tears that were forming stopped as those words hit Noah like a freight train. "Minutes? I've been gone for months…"

"Dude, I just saw you climb in there just minutes before you came out wearing…" he rubbed the material of Noah's flight suit, and paused. It didn't feel like anything he had felt before. Not to mention it was cold. Really cold. He examined Noah closer now, and noticed he had been sweating. Profusely if the wet stain at where the base of the suit's collar met his neck meant anything. "This isn't fun anymore man, what happened."

Noah stepped back, but Luke followed when it looked like he was about to fall over. He ran a gloved hand through his hair. When he turned to the side, Luke took notice of a scar on Noah's jaw. Not faint either. It looked maybe a few months old. And Luke was sure he didn't see it when he first saw him. Not to mention his cheeks looked a little lean. The suit looked a bit tight, but it made Noah seem he had lost weight. Good bit of weight actually.

"Noah," Luke said seriously. The blonde turned sharp. "Tell me. What happened when you got inside that thing?"

Noah steadied himself and nodded to the kitchen area. "We may want to sit down. Its… it's going to be hard to explain."

_Pursue your dreams:_ Two Minutes Prior

Noah gave the mock salute to Luke as the hatch closed. Plavsky Particles danced and formed into the glowing representation of the EX-caliber Gundam's cockpit. Or close as it could get to it. The screens were a little wider and more stats ran across the screen. For the fun of it, Noah strapped himself down comfortably into the seat. Just as he clicked the belts down, a wave of particles washed over him. He paused, eyes dancing about inside the machine before he gave a shrug. The screen came alive and there he saw again the void of space, but some distance ahead he could see a battle waging. Now he could have placed himself earlier in the series, maybe episode one perhaps. But he felt he needed to do a change that was a bit smaller. Trying to save an entire colony from being destroyed as a bit much for him to attempt.

He decided to go with stopping Flay Allister's father, George Allister, from getting killed. If he could save the man's life, that would change something within the series. Most noticeably Flay's actions towards Kira. Sure enough, he could see the very same Nazca-class ship Vesalius, and it already looked like it was preparing to fire. Surrounding it in a dance of death and exchange of combat fire were the GiNN mobile suits along with the Aegis, Strike, and Mobius Zero. Of course he could see both the Aegis and Strike exchanging fire, but neither of the two looked to be really trying hit each other. Noah smiled. A faint pop was heard in the quiet cockpit as he rolled his shoulders. "Time to make my entrance." 

_Pursue your dreams_**  
**  
Blood red and olive green colored optics flashed in the void. The black and red armor of the EX-caliber Gundam stood out amongst the darkness along with the glow of red particles that generated from the GN drive. In a burst the Gundam from 00 charged down, moving far faster than any of the GiNN mobile suits or Strike. The only one there that could perhaps match his speed, or come close to it, was either Mobius Zero or the Aegis in its Mobile Armor mode. Though the Strike was a close contender. In the cockpit Noah narrowed his eyes as another ship was destroyed. By order of destruction, the third and final ship would be the one Flay's father would be on. One GiNN was destroy, leaving only the remaining two, Aegis, and Strike. The Zero had taken a hit and was limping back to the Archangel.

That meant they were going to fire on the remaining ship soon. He could destroy the ship before they could fire, taking two birds with one stone: 1 saving Flay's father, and 2 killing the main antagonist of the Seed universe, Rau Le Creuset. But as much as he would like to make things easy on the whole universe, Noah kind of wanted to see how he stood up to the masked man. So damaging the ship and chasing off the Aegis was the better bet for the time being.

One GiNN flew at the remaining Alliance ship. Noah focused on it, pushing the GN Drive to the limit. His particles should be messing with their radar, and considering it wasn't turning around to face an approaching enemy, it must have been working.

Coming in at ramming speed, the ex-caliber bashed the GiNN aside. It let loose a rocket from its bazooka, said round flying aimlessly out into space before going off on a timed detonation. The GiNN turned, freezing at the sight of the GN blade pointed at it. The gin attempted to toss the launcher and draw it's blade but before it could Noah had hit the accelerator and cleaved the GiNN in two. As it exploded he spun around and examined the battlefield.

Noah looked to each screen, noticing a sudden halt in activity. The remaining GiNN just floated in the void, looking in his direction. Both the Aegis and Strike had stopped their duel and too were looking at him. He assumed the rest were doing the same, and smirked. "Well so far the system seems to be working perfectly," he remarked. "I'd freeze up two if someone just came and crashed my party."

The tables had clearly turned and Noah knew it was only a matter of time till the ship turned its guns on him and the Aegis would attack him, orders or not. So without delaying further, the EX-caliber turned and focused its attention to the remaining GiNN. He once again increased his particle output and sped towards the GiNN. This time it managed to draw its sword and as he brought the GN blade in a diagonal upwards slash it blocked it. For a moment the blade held but it was a worthless effort as Noah could tell the pilot seemed to find solace in it's sword, the mobile suit visibly relaxing as it thought it was safe for the moment. A moment later though the pilot found his sword as well as the mobile suit cut in half. A quick "jump back" and Noah cleared the GiNN's blast radius.

And that seemed to get things moving again as the Aegis and Strike again clashed, though it looked like the Aegis was trying to get past the Strike to come at the EX-caliber. The EX-caliber turned though to face the Vesalius but simply floated in space, acting as if the Aegis, which could easily out maneuver the strike and get to it, was no threat at all. It was his natural style to simply act like he didn't care what happened to him then as soon as things looked their worst he'd burst into action. It was why he was a great tactician in gunpla battles and why his machines could look so ordinary, so barely customized…yet in the blink of an eye have more gimmicks then one would expect from simple parts.

Warning sirens blared as he detected being locked onto by the ship. "At least they're focused on me," he said to himself. Another warning came up and quickly approaching was the Aegis in mobile armor mode. He arched a brow. "Maybe it's faster than I gave it credit for."

With that he noticed a volley of missiles aimed at him coming from the ship. Knowing the capabilities of his machine he boosted towards them, jinking to the left and spinning as he climbed in order to allow the particles distortion effect to hit the missiles and cause them to spin and sputter off into nothingness. He was also trying to get the _Montgomery_ out of the V_esalius' _cross hairs. Right now he was target number one given the fact their main guns even were targeting him. Knowing this he kicked the EX-caliber into high gear and flew under the ship and in a spin that would have made kira jealous were this later in the series with him in the freedom, he sliced both main cannons barrels in half, before flying up through the ships "launch tunnel" and over it to let the custom damaged head of the EX-caliber look into the bridge.

He was sure a few of the minor officers were pissing themselves. After all he knew murrue likely would have this early in the show. But instead of fulfilling their fears of stabbing the bridge he jinked to the right and ran the blade between the two barrels of its port side dual rail guns. By this time the CIWS were tracked on him and even though the particle distortion was throwing off their aim he was still having to dodge and weave through anti-air/MS fire as he flew over the port side of the hull and flew along its side, running his sword through one of its port side's two vertical missile launch systems.

The ship did however fire off a volley of missiles before the other launcher was destroyed which forced the ex-caliber to boost away away from the ship, spiraling in a dance of particles to avoid the missiles. With particle dispersal in use, the missiles had nothing to lock on to, and so simply flew out into space without a target, leaving a chain of harmless detonations in the void.

Before Noah could move to finish "de-fanging" the ship, however, he detected a message being broadcasted on all frequencies. Even though he saved the Alliance ship with Flay's father onboard, he had a feeling they were still going to use Lacus Clyne as a meat shield to stop any further attacks. Of course Noah didn't bother to listen in. It was just a long professional version of 'if you keep attacking, we kill her'.

The EX-caliber looked to the ZAFT ship, and pointed the GN sword 3 at it before having the blade swing back into its stowed position. He let the message linger before lowering the sword and flying off towards the Archangel just as a retreat flares fired from the Versalius. It was all a simulation, but he couldn't help but play the role of the mysterious badass who swept in and saved the day. The Aegis zipped past, and Noah promptly ignored it. The Strike remained where it was, watching the Aegis fly off. Most likely Kira again brooding over the actions of Athrun Zala.

Noah thought on the matter, thinking he should continue on with the test. He approached the Strike slowly, watching the white MS tense slightly. He slowly raised the right arm in a wave, stopping within arm's length. "Here goes nothing," Noah said, putting a message out towards the Strike. "GAT-X105 Strike, do you read, over."

A second passed before he got a return call. Patching it in, the screen in the corner cleared and showed a helmeted Kira Yamato. He looked much younger than what Noah had anticipated even though he knew his age at this time in the series. "This is the X105 Strike responding to Unknown G-unit, please identify yourself."

Noah raised a brow. Wasn't expecting Kira to act like that, he thought. Guess he's trying to act professional considering what was taking place. "This is the CB-00EX EX-caliber . Sorry I was late to the party. How are you holding up?" Let's test your reaction to that question.

Kira visibly relaxed, body slumping in his seat. Noah smiled inwardly thinking that would be the proper reaction from Kira Yamato at this time in the story. "Better now, thanks to your assist." Kira blinked and added, "You're not wearing a flight suit?"

Noah was about to respond, but another signal came up, coming from the Archangel. Even Kira looked to be getting it as he looked off to the side of the screen. Well this should be interesting. Noah accepted signal and was greeted with the stunning image of Capta…err…Lt. Murrue Ramius. Much more attractive than he thought she would be. "This is Lt. Murrue Ramius, acting Captain of the Earth Alliance vessel, Archangel. Unknown G-unit, please identify yourself."

Noah gave a nod. "Hello Lieutenant. This is the CB-00EX EX-caliber responding. As I was telling the pilot of the Strike, I hope I wasn't crashing on your little party. Looked like anyone could join."

Murrue didn't seem to want to exchange banter as she continued to hold that poker face of hers and responded, "We appreciate your assist in our defense, and joking aside, we would like to know where you and that machine came from."

Not like I can board the ship and speak face to face, he thought. Movement to the side caught his attention, and Noah looked to see a transport vessel leaving the wounded Alliance ship and make its way over to the Archangel. Looking back he saw a patient Murrue staring at him. Noah shrugged. "With all due respect, Lieutenant, but any information on this machine is classified, even to you." That poker face instantly became an angry one, and it almost made Noah scoot back in his seat. "But I will say it and myself were at Heliopolis before its collapse." He could hear the faint gasps aboard the bridge and small whispers, before he heard Ensign Natarle Badgiruel.

"Then explain how you managed to get this far without a ship," she asked in a demanding tone.

"Me and this machine were in a damaged transport makings its way towards Earth when the engines gave out. I decided to bail out and use this machine to try and make into Alliance space before I ran out of energy." Noah gave another shrug that would make Mu La Flaga proud. "Guess I was just lucky to have stumbled upon your battle when I did."

"Never the less, you will power down all systems and allow the Strike to guide you to the Archangel. "

"Understood," Noah replied with a nod. He wasn't one hundred percent sure they could detect him with his particles being dispersed. Not to mention that the N-Jammers in the area that is affecting their systems might being aiding in hiding his own. The Strike moved over, taking the EX-caliber by the arm/shield and gently pulled it towards the Archangel. He looked to the screen and saw a worried look on Kira's face. "Hey Strike," he said, gaining the coordinator's attention. "I never got your name."

He blinked, and gave a puppy smile that probably would make any teenage girl swoon. Or boy, whatever his taste was. "It's Kira. Kira Yamato."

You slipped, Kira, Noah thought. You're supposed to give a rank to hide the fact you're a civilian at least till it's deemed I trusted enough to know the truth. But you slipping like that proves that the test is working perfectly. "Pleasure to meet you, Kira. My name is Noah Carson."

Kira nodded. "Again, thank you for your assist. You have no idea how much you helped today." He looked from the camera. "A friend's father was on board that ship and I had promised to protect him. Had you not shown up, I'm not sure what would have happened."

Noah hid his grin and said, "Well, good thing we'll never know."

The Strike lead the EX-caliber to the launch port. From there, Noah took over and touched down, moving the machine into the hanger. He gently eased his machine into one of the berths and took a moment to breath. Now what? Noah thought, amused. He began to wonder if the data to this point was saved. But what would he do should he come back? He's inside the ship, can't rightly just bust out. Though that would be something, destroying the Archangel from the inside. He looked out and saw many of the crew staring at his machine, and couldn't help but grin. "This is just too awesome. It's like it's real." A glance at his side camera and he saw the hanger close. From there, a signal popped up on his screen telling him the outside was pressurized and oxygen was being pumped to breath.

The Strike parked into a space opposite of him, and he watched the hatch open. Kira Yamato exited before the phase shift armor even finished powering down, removing his helmet as he drifted in the weightlessness. He was drifting towards the EX-caliber but was stopped as armed personnel approached, weapons drawn and aimed at the cockpit of the EX-caliber. Not surprising. Noah was an unknown and this was just a precautionary. And Noah was happy with it. So far, things were changing from what happened in the series and that's exactly how it should be. "I'm going to be stinking rich after this."

He began to shut off the system, the particles disappearing. He disconnected the GP Base when a banging at the hatch got his attention. "Just a second, Luke," he said. Popping the hatch, he hadn't noticed that it took slightly longer than the first time to open, along with the sound of a second hiss from another set of doors. And so worked up about his project working as well as it had, he never noticed that the pull cords to his hoodie had been floating the entire time.

But upon unbuckling the safety harness, Noah felt… light. And as soon as the hatch fully opened, Noah was staring at a man holding a rifle aimed directly at him. Looking past said man, who was dressed in an Alliance uniform by the way, Noah could see clear as day, without a viewing screen of any kind, the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam.

"Sir, slowly climb out of the machine," the armed soldier spoke.

Noah stared at him, shook his head hard and rubbed his eyes. Seeing the soldier still there, Noah rubbed his eyes again. Yep, he was still there. Noah tried to do as he was told, but noticed he was floating…. Floating! That meant no gravity.

Noah slowly pulled himself out and into the open, forgetting to stop himself and promptly flew over the soldier's head, who was shouting for him to stop. But Noah wasn't listening. He couldn't. Mostly because he blacked out upon seeing the deactivated blood red and olive green lenses that made up the eyes of EX-caliber's staring down at him.

…..

**Pursue your dreams**

**The EX-caliber …**

**So it's meant to be pronounced "Excalibur", and I originally thought of it as a play on words due to its original design having two of the GN blade threes. And ya know…Excalibur was the whole legendary sword…and this is a mainly cqb based machine with a few hidden ranged weapons. This is its final form hence why I call its "ex-caliber "…though I'm always modifying it still and making it better. **

**I will post a load out for this machine in chapter 3, but I'm posting this for now to test the waters, see what people think. Again, check out the story, "eyes in seed" this is based off it with the author's permission, and chapter 2 will be all my work…minus the whole "ZERO system" plot piece. If things go well review wise should have the second chapter up in a few days to a week. But we shall see.**


	2. BS 101

So….sorry about how screwed up the last chapter may have seemed…seems I did something wrong and my Microsoft word showed me that I had changed things but I had them tracked to know what I did…aaand it put them right back next to what I changed. At least for a few words. Anyways I'm hoping it's fixed now as I altered my save file, fixed everything.

Anyways I own nothing in terms of the gundam seed characters or the base model parts of the EX-caliber gundam though its personal design and name are mine. Thank Bandai though for the basics. Also thank nemesis astrea once again for letting me use his basic plot point of the ZERO system.

Read on and I hope you enjoy.

_Destroying your nightmares_

Noah groaned as he slowly came too. He could feel a bandage on his head and a mattress under him that felt like it was a cheap, hard mattress bought from a yard sale. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. Instead of being in his home and hoping that seeing the strike gundam had been a dream…hell that everything was a dream…he was sitting in the brig.

He glared at the ceiling. "SERIOUSLY? THE BRIG! I SAVED YOUR BUTTS AND I GET THROWN IN THE BRIG!" he exclaimed as he shot up and instantly regretted it as a wave of disorientation, vertigo and lightheadedness hit him…along with the fact he had to grab the metal bars of the foot rest with his feet to keep him from floating into his cell bars.

He heard a chuckle from outside and looked up to see Mu la flaga, the always calm and cool headed ace mobile armor pilot glancing in at his cell. His famous grin was plastered on his face, Noah remembered it from all the times he'd told murrue he could make the impossible possible in gundam seed.

He sat down on the bed as best he could and watched the man turn from where he had been standing next to his cell, leaning back against the wall. He turned his head to a nearby guard as he said something and nodded. "Yeah, she should probably know about him being awake." He said then turned his focus back on Noah.

Noah's glare softened as he sighed. "I'm guessing that my machine was such an unknown you guys decided to throw me in here?" he asked as he looked mu in the eyes. Mu nodded. "Yeah. Didn't help the soldiers that got you thought you had been trying to run when you floated over them. I mean, no alliance uniform, an unknown machine which either doesn't have phase shift armor or has an unknown metal used for its armor. You're just a whole enigma wrapped up in a hoodie and jeans." said mu who gave his also famous shrug when he finished in a gesture of, 'I don't know what to tell ya'

Noah sighed and pinched his nose. This wasn't happening…he did NOT somehow get sucked into the seed universe. How did that happen anyways? He began trying to process just what could have gone wrong. Last thing he needed to do was potentially put a product on the market that could kill its users by dropping them in the middle of series made of war, likely in a huge battle, and have some part of their machine fail and boom…they are gone.

The thing was, plavsky particle specialized scientists were still just scratching THE SURFACE of what they could do. Depending on a models features there were isolated incidents of fighters "assimilating" with their machines, whatever happens to their machine happened to them but usually when the fight was over a long nap fixed everything.

Then there was the incident at the 7th world championship. The particles became supposedly charged with so much "emotion" similar to the assimilation that they gained a will of their own almost and created the space fortress _A Baoa Qu _in order to protect its primary source of particles when it began to overload and would have potentially continued to build more on it's own had the space fortress not been penetrated by a group of fighters.

Perhaps there was something behind the particles ability to bring the machine to life? Maybe they opened a window between reality and the fictional dimensions that are the gundam Meta series? But then why would his 00 based machine react this way to a seed scenario? Perhaps the GN particles his machine now produced had effected things? Was he even producing GN particles? So many questions could be asked with this incident in and of itself it started to give Noah a headache so he let it rest for now.

By that time the acting captain Murrue Ramius had shown up and was glaring at him as he seemed to ignore her presence. He was by far the most irritating man she had ever met and she only had known him for five minutes. Were she natarle she figured she'd be yelling at him by now but whatever was occupying his mind seemed to have left as he focused on her.

Once Noah was focused on murrue she sighed. She couldn't be too mad at him. He did save flays father which allowed her bridge to relax once flay broke down in happy tears to see the zaft ship stop firing and her father's shuttle flying over.

"I am lieutenant Murrue Ramius, acting captain of the archangel class assault carrier, _archangel_. On behalf of my crew and the crew of the _Montgomery_ I'd like to say thank you. But sadly we barely know anything about you or your machine. We do know your name is Noah Carson from Ensign Yamato. And you told us your machine is called the EX-caliber. But…" she sighed, pinching her own nose and closing her eyes.

She didn't know where to start. The lack of phase shift armor? The fact it had no clear propulsion yet moved as fluidly and with a grace almost as if it were underwater? Or maybe how it managed to avoid a hail of CIWS fire at nearly point blank range and disable half the _Vesalius'_ armaments, including their main cannons as if they were nothing. Or the more important question how did he pilot it at all? They had looked inside the cockpit…it was a chair….that was it. Mu even dared go inside and sit down, see if that flipped some panels or opened something. But she also didn't know where to start given how he stated it was classified when he was brought onboard.

"Celestial being…"said Noah. That got her to once again open her eyes and focus on him.

"What was that? "She asked as she took a step closer to his bars.

He took in a deep breath and began to spin his own tale. "I work for an organization known as celestial being. I`m what they call a gundam meister. Trained to use that machine for the purpose of ending this war. I was supposed to work with a team…but both they and their machines were destroyed with helopolis given mine was the only working prototype. "He said, taking a moment to let them ask the obvious questions to help him get his story straight.

Mu shook his head. "That's impossible. The alliance would have known of another G-weapons project being built right next to theirs. "Said mu as he glared at the kid, thinking he was trying to take them for fools. Instead he just shook his head.

"They did know, where do you think the duel came from? It was the basic frame for all the G-weapon prototypes….including ours. But its frame didn't work for us. Too bulky and square. Perhaps I should shed a bit more light on our project…well I should shed what light I can. Celestial being is a 3rd party organization who intended to enter this war in an attempt to stop it using superior mobile suits. We had the brightest minds from ZAFT, the E.A., and morgenroete working with or for us…all in secret. Think of us like…an anti-war group. Yeah I know…hypocritical given our intent to stop both sides from escalating this war with basically more war." He said as he once again let them absorb the information while he tried to twist celestial being's origins to fit into seed and give him a cover. So far they seemed to be buying it.

This time murrue spoke up. "I was undercover working with the project, why have I never heard of this? Or any of the tech in your machine?" she asked as she began to get drawn into his story. It had an air of BS but at the same time seemed plausible…but the tech still didn't fit.

Noah knew this question was coming up eventually. He waved his hand as to dismiss the question as he said, "well I can't go into the specifics of it but essentially that machine was the prototype of prototypes. Again it's where the duel came from. while our goal was not to escalate the war, we also knew that ZAFT clearly had an upper hand…so anything we couldn't use we tossed your way in secret. My machine was also the prototype for plenty of the more…exotic and far-fetched technology. Honestly if I told you half of what we had planned you`d think I was crazy that it could even be used in general let alone in mobile suit deign. "He said, suddenly acting superior which upset Murrue a bit.

She bit her lip though as she seemed to have him explaining everything…well to a point. After all half of what he said just brought up more questions. Mu beat her to the next question. "But Current battery technology, like what is used in the GiNN or the G-weapons gives you a limited operating time, how did you not only survive Heliopolis but get all the way out here?" he said with a tinge of anger in his tone as he was clearly getting annoyed with the fact Noah's answers only begged more questions. This though got a sad look from Noah.

"Like you we had a prototype carrier for our machines. Each machine though was to be held in an eject-able pod that had its own limited propulsion system. They were currently docked like the shelters, ready in case ZAFT attacked us or you. My machine and container were the only completed projects. They rushed me to my machine, got me in it and ejected the container just before Heliopolis broke up. As far as I know my team, their half built machines and the entire group there blew up as our part of Heliopolis was rigged to blow to cover our tracks should we ever be attacked. Using its camera's I watched your ship launch, your first fight, and tried to get my container to move so you could pick me up. But the rapid ejection had short circuited some of its controls so I had to get into its programming and fix it. I had the system track you to try and get an idea of where you were heading but by the time I got things working you were gone. I had an idea of where you`d go to enter the earth's atmosphere and land at JOSH-A so I had the container head that way so as to preserve my own machine's power. Sadly though it ran out of juice near the remains of Artemis. I opened the container and launched my machine, setting it to self-destruct as I flew away. Took me some time but I finally caught up to you guys and I guess…saved the day huh?" he asked, taking in another deep breath and watching them, waiting to see how they'd react.

At this point Mu seemed ready to bust out laughing purely at how either ridiculous the story was or how incredibly lucky the young man was he didn't know which. Murrue on the other hand still had one question for him. "Are you a coordinator? And if not how do you pilot that machine. To this day there are no records of a mobile suit being piloted by a natural." said Murrue. The mention of him possibly being a coordinator brought Mu back to being serious as he waited for the answer.

Noah though laughed. "I'm a natural. Did I not just say I've trained to pilot that machine? I`ve been with it since it was just a skeleton, the basic frame being reconfigured from the duel to become what it is now. If I ever had trouble moving it the techs got right on fixing it. Hell I could disassemble that thing and rebuild it with the right team of mechanics." He said as he looked back down. Time to put the final nail in this story and to end the questioning.

What he said next made Murrue gasp and Mu to frown as he suddenly felt bad for giving the boy such a hard time. "My parents were part of the organization. They died making sure that I got into my machine and hoping I'd end this stupid war. Seriously…coordinator, natural? Who really should give a fuck…your all human….but no…gotta use labels. "he said before using his legs to hold onto the foot rest as he laid back down with force…well would have if they had gravity. "Me and EX-caliber will make sure this war ends with as little bloodshed as possible…so many innocents have died already…" he said as he rolled over to stare at the wall…and hide his grin as he knew he was selling this perfectly. Either they would believe him and let him get back to his machine where he may be able to leave this mess…or they would leave him here and force him to wait for ZAFT to attack again and realize they need him.

Mu sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry kid…didn't know you lost your family in that mess." He then turned to Murrue who had just as sorry of a look on her face. After all…they all had lost someone in this war. This young man had practically been raised probably in his machine and now it was all he had.

Murrue was tempted to let the kid out…but he still had basically just said he had both the E.A. and ZAFT for enemies. To let him run around the ship, even supervised, or even more so to let him near his machine could prove a disaster for the ship. "I'm sorry to say this…but you`ll have to stay in the brig for now. There are still just too many unknowns to let you loose on the ship. "She said before pushing off the wall and floating towards the brig's main door to leave. Mu however fished an object out of his pocket and tossed it towards Noah. "Hey…here's your little…game thing, I don't know. We found it on your person and can't unlock it. It better just be some kinda game thing. Don't make me regret giving it to you. "He stated before floating away while Noah continued to pretend to sulk.

_Destroy your nightmares_

Kira was sitting in the officer's lounge with lacus quietly. They had briefly discussed flays actions of using lacus as a human shield and Kira had apologized for his friends actions though lacus seemed to feel no ill will towards the girl. They then discussed the new mobile suit that had appeared on the field and subsequently proven its dominance in close combat. Kira had looked over the recordings in the strike after the pilot went unconscious and while the medics and lieutenant Ramius discussed why he had done so he brought up the thought of exhaustion, not only due to how long he claimed to have been in space but also his body enduring the G-forces his machine likely stressed on his body. They even compared the strikes data to the recordings on the ship…well Mr. la flaga and the lieutenant did. Kira had offered to keep lacus company as he felt she likely needed someone to confide in after such an event.

Just as lacus was about to say something about the friend they apparently shared, athrun zala, flay, her father and the lieutenant floated in. they all stopped when they saw Kira and lacus but murrue moved forward. "I'm sorry sir, I forgot I had given ensign Yamato permission to use the officer's lounge." Said murrue as she tried to motion for Kira to get out of the room.

George Allster, vice foreign minister for the earth federation, looked relieved though that Kira was there…not so much on lacus' presence though. He stepped forward before Kira could leave. "No it's quite alright, please stay. I`m actually glad you're here. Not only because it saves me the time tracking you down to thank you for doing your best to save me, but to get your opinion on why the other young man who piloted that strange G-weapon is in the brig." he said, loudly, as if to make it very clear he was not a fan of his savior being locked up.

"I told you vice foreign minister, he is in the brig because there are simply too many unknowns about him. For all we know we could let him loose and he could go right to his mobile suit and destroy us from the inside!" exclaimed murrue as she floated around to be in front of him though he gently pushed her aside to once again look Kira in the eyes. It was clear he was trying to kill 2 birds with one stone with his next statement.

"Yes you already questioned him though and he gave you a clear explanation of his reasoning for being in that machine and his mission. He's not much different then mister yamato here, though the opposite I suppose." He stated which had Kira giving him a confused look. Flay was merely latched onto her father, her arms around his right arm, though like him she seemed to be disturbed by lacus' presence. She looked up and smiled when he continued.

"I hear you're a coordinator….yet you fight for this ship against your own kind. While I'm sure you have some noble reasoning for it you still have already racked up quite to kill count in such a short time. And yet here you are having a civil conversation with one of the most prominent members of the coordinator society. Mister Carson is the opposite in the sense that he's a natural, and yet he fights both coordinators AND his own kind. I may not like that he intended to fight the E.A. but by the sounds of it had Heliopolis gone right you would have reached JOSH-A with the prototypes and we would have mass produced variants of them, along with advances in military technology that may very well…." that was where Murrue put her foot down.

"DID YOU NOT SEE THAT BATTLE? HE SWOOPED IN, ELIMINATED TWO GINNS AND NEARLY DISABLED A NAZCA CLASS ALL IN THE MATTER OF A FEW MINUTES AND WITH A PHYSICAL BLADE THAT CUT A GINNS LIKE IT WAS BUTTER! AND YOU SAY ALL IT WOULD TAKE IS PERHAPS AN EXTRA MONTH OR TWO OF EXPERIMENTING WITH THE PROTOYPES AND THE ARCHANGEL TO DEFEAT THEM?" she yelled, almost in his face. It was extremely unlike her but his attitude towards the situation at hand…well it hit her in all the wrong places. For starters how he made it sound like her and the crew were merely pawns. That had Noah and his team showed up on the scene, so long as JOSH-A got the data on the ship and the mobile suits they had a fighting chance. He clearly was underestimating that machine….that or she was overestimating it.

The man just chuckled and patted her shoulder. "Relax lieutenant. You give the boy too much credit. He is one boy with one machine. And on top of that it clearly only dominates in close quarters. This team he spoke of likely had highly specialized machines planned. See? Crisis averted. Plus we get him and the strike to JOSH-A and we can disassemble that mobile suit and learn its secrets. If it can beat a GiNN that easily think what would happen if we incorporated its technology into our own mobile suits? We would be able to thrash the coordinators on their home turf. Speaking of have you seen it? That thing has no propulsion to speak of? It likely relies on inertia of some sort to move as it does. I bet it's a brick in atmosphere. If he does act up I suggest we let lieutenant commander la flaga and ensign yamato here do their thing and handle him. "said George as he smiled and continued to chuckle, Laugh even as flay pitched in. "if my daddy says he's an easy target then he likely won't last long in our next fight against ZAFT. I`m sure if we let him fight they will handle him. "She said, clearly trying to goat her father into talking down the boy even further.

Murrue sighed though as she pinched her nose. "Yes vice foreign minister. You're correct. I guess…I just saw how advanced his machine is and how easily he could fight his way through either sides forces. But you are right. He is one person with a single machine. Numbers would easily overwhelm him." she stated as she left the room. She needed to go see their rescuer and ask him a few more questions.

In the meantime Kira was left with lacus and the vice foreign ministers words as the older gentlemen left the room with flay. Kira was mostly upset at this point. Both in term of being angry and sad. Flay had just…ignored him. Granted it was how she usually treated him…but…then to have her father basically say he should be thinking of killing lacus or something else then just act like the comment was nothing…he wasn't sure whether to cry or shout at something.

Lacus had been nothing but kind to him, letting him vent his frustrations about fighting...she was the enemy technically yet she sat and smiled, laughed...she was an amazing woman. And for a moment he had thought himself jealous of athrun of the fact he was engaged to her.

_Destroying your nightmares_

Noah was looking over the data recorded on his GP base. While Mu was partially right, it was modified to hold some music and a game or two, it was mostly also now on a similar level to a smart phone just without being able to make a call. He was making notes on his little adventure so far when the lieutenant showed up and rapped on his cell bars. He glanced up, saw her, sighed, and looked back down at his GP base. He was curious if he still had his gunplay somewhere in that machine….and how he'd do maintenance on it if it got damaged.

"So…the vice foreign minister is convinced you're not a threat…"

"Even after I stated clearly my enemies were both the E.A. and ZAFT?"

She nodded. She had tried her best to convey this to Mr. Allster but he refused to listen.

Noah shrugged, "you do realize why he doesn't care right?" he asked, realizing where flay likely got her hatred for coordinators from the series besides her father's death at the hands of whatever coordinator manned the Vesalius' weapons controls. "let me guess…he thinks I won't last five minutes in a full battle against oh…say a ZAFT strike force intent on sinking this vessel so your about to release me so as to have an extra hand defending this ship?" he asked as he looked back up at her with determination in his eyes.

Murrue could only gasp as he seemed to know exactly what she planned from a single sentence and a nod. "Yes…how did you know? Just how informed is your organization?" She asked as she motioned for the guard on duty to come unlock the cell.

"Simple…he's a ranking member of blue cosmos. I doubt he believes I'm a natural and thinks I'll die killing my own kind. He doesn't doubt my skill or lethality with the EX-caliber….he doubts that I can last long alone. Sad thing is…he's so far from the truth he probably thinks when I do get destroyed the strike can recover my machine and blue cosmos will get their grubby hands on all my shiny toys. "He said with a sad tone as the lieutenant entered his cell to lean against the opposite wall.

"It's one thing to state he doubts you`ll survive in a fight...but it's an entirely different discussion to claim he's part of such an extremist group." She said, a hint of anger in her tone. Today just wasn't her day after all and now she was regretting the thought of releasing him just because a politician thought he was safe to have running around the ship.

Noah shook his head. "We have…had strong evidence that blue cosmos has infiltrated almost all levels of both your military and political circles. That of course was before I became the only member of celestial being. Listen how about we stop discussing things and going in circles on whether I'm a danger to the ship or not. "He said as he turned and hung onto the bed with his legs while looking her in the eyes. "I'll promise my loyalty to THIS SHIP, not the E.A. but this specific ship and protect it till it reaches JOSH-A. And in return you can simply give me room, board and food. Best merc deal I've ever heard of. "He said with a smirk. Plus he knew she had to take it. Otherwise the EX-caliber was only taking up room in their hangar and was a wasted gun that could be protecting the ship.

Murrue sighed and closed her eyes in thought. He was right. They had no money to pay him and he seemed to actually care about this ship even if it was an alliance vessel. Plus with Kira's inexperience in a fight and the obvious skill of such an ace mobile armor pilot like the man known as the Hawk of Endymion they needed another skilled fighter if they were going to last against ZAFT's endless pursuit. Though she wondered what he meant by till they reached JOSH-A. They would be making an orbital drop to it…did he intend to stay in space?

Finally she nodded. "Fine…I accept your terms. You can bunk with Kira." She stated and began to leave but stopped at the cell door. "But before I let you leave in your mobile suit…I want you to show myself and lieutenant commander la flaga how you pilot that machine. When we looked in the cockpit and there were no controls to speak of." She said as she turned back to him and see him grinning like mad.

"Oh of course. After all you guys didn't know about the key. "he stated as he lifted up his GP base then floated towards her, gently pushing her out of the cell before following her out . "Just let me get something to eat first please." He said as he floated past the guard and began to explore the archangel. While he'd rather be exploring the ptolemaios 2 and seeing the actual celestial being members faces at the sight of his machine…this was still an out of this…well his world experience and he was half tempted to try piloting the strike but didn't wish to push his luck when there was a chance he could come back and do this all again with a custom strike and somehow have them exchange his plavsky particle cockpit for a spare one…if they have spares like celestial being did. Then again a spare cockpit meant that the current one got hit…and in Kira's case of piloting it likely meant he was dead.

Either way he was content just trying to find the mess hall, even dismissing lieutenant Ramius' offer to guide him. He was like a kid in a candy store and he was sure his new attitude confused her.

_Destroying your nightmares_

While everyone on the archangel was trying to decide if Noah was safe or not the _Vesalius'_ crew was trying to figure out just what he was. Rau le creuset took a breath and leaned on the holotable, watching the battle recording for the tenth time, watching the suit fly through space as if it were a fish in water…no…more like a shark. That blade cleaving their main cannons in half before it came up by the bridge. Even he had to admit to a tinge of fear when they saw that red eye. Freezing the image there he heard the bridges door open and looked to see athrun float towards him.

For a moment athrun and rau just stared at it. The bright green and blood red eyes just staring into the bridge. Half the face was darkened and charred along with what was visible of its left clavicle. "Do you think it sustained damage in a prior fight?" asked athrun, hoping his commander had received news on this machine. Sadly he was met with a head shake.

"No…I've sent this video back to the homeland and have yet to receive news of a previous engagement with it or any news of it in the alliance database. For now we are calling the machine alpha one. What disturbs me most is this…look how the blade locks into position under the arm, as if to brace it for some reason." He stated as he continued the video and it showed the EX-caliber fly away and stop attacking once the announcement was made that the legged ship had lacus onboard. The blade it was pointing at the bridge swung back and with a flash of sparks sure enough it seemed locked into position.

Rau turned to athrun to see him contemplating the meaning of this action. "What do you think it could be it's bracing for?" asked the ZAFT commander, curious if his faith in the young man was placed too early. Already he could see he was holding back against the strike. He was unsure as to why but he hoped he'd find a reason to put the strike down soon.

Athrun backed the video up to the point the machine entered and watched the fight play out again. His eyes narrowed as like his commander he watched it again. "It's hiding something. I can't tell what but I'd put my money on a ranged weapon. It rammed albert's GiNN then cut it in half before moving onto Elizabeth and following up with another attack. If the alliance hadn't built the blitz I'm sure Nicol could have fought similarly and hidden the rifle in its trikeros weapons systems till it needed. But at the same time the pilot clearly knows his machines limits or else I think it would have continued its attack even with our CIWS locked onto it. I haven't seen a pilot use a single weapon so efficiently. I know I couldn't use the aegis in such a way, even a custom GiNN without years of experience. "He stated as he looked to his commander, determination in his eyes.

Rau couldn't help but smile as even he had recognized the pilot's skill. "speaking of that fact…notice how the CIWS constantly miss even though he still has to dodge and weave through their fire…but he does so in a specific manner." he stated as he changed camera's and they watched the mystery machine bob and weave through the fire…but there was in fact a pattern before he seemed satisfied before flying over the side of the ship and disabling one of their missile launchers.

Once again athrun watched it multiple times. "He's spreading those particles. "He stated as a matter of fact.

Rau nodded. "My thoughts exactly. This machine must have some sort of electrical distortion effect to those particles. We looked over our targeting programs multiple times. He was close enough to those guns he should have been turned to shreds. But instead every time the guns had a lock-on they instantly lost it and fired in that general area. It is my belief this machine was an extra project to the G-weapons, an off the books experiment. Otherwise we would have been made aware of its presence and had a red like you and your team train to take It." he said as he floated back towards the door. "Be wary of this machine athrun. It should not be underestimated." he said as he moved to leave the bridge.

"Commander…"

"And we will do all we can to rescue lacus athrun. That machines presence on the legged ship has simply complicated things. Once we have a plan to bring that machine down we will try to rescue her. "He stated before leaving athrun to look at the image of that machine floating in front of the bridge. The skill it had to take to pilot such a mobile suit…he shook his head. It was one machine. He knew it would only be a matter of time before it was shot down. He turned and left the bridge as well. He had work to do on the aegis.

_Destroying your nightmares_

Noah was sitting in the EX-calibers cockpit….just sitting there. He had his eyes closed, the door open so no one thought he was plotting to leave or something. In truth he was just taking in everything…expecting the simulation to end any moment. Taking in the sounds of the hangar, Murdoch and his crew performing simple upkeep on the strike and mobieus zero. He had been nearly bouncing off the walls when he got to sit with Kira and his friends while he ate. He had to admit…for not being a huge fan of seed…this was an experience no amount of money could buy. Hell he could cosplay in a perfect replica of the ship, with people who looked and acted exactly like these characters…and it wouldn't be the same. And when he saw the EX-caliber…at 1:1 scale…he would have fallen to his knees were he not in zero gravity. All seriousness, all the acting to seem like he was from here died the moment he floated up to the head of his machine and looked it in the eyes…well as best he could. To feel the E-carbon armor…to float around to the back and get a good look at the GN drive. With enough time here and money made off this simulator he very well could rebuild this in reality.

Of course first he'd have to be able to do the BS he told Murrue and Mu…about being able to strip this machine down to its skeleton and rebuild it.

On that note he was also trying to figure out how to fix any damage he may incur here. If he could come and go he'd just leave the simulation, fix the model as he assumed the damage would transfer, then come back. But he doubted he could leave at will so he was trying to figure out how to potentially make phase shift armor as strong as E-carbon. I mean they were basically the same thing, just the E-carbon was reinforced by GN particles flowing under it. Shouldn't be too hard to convert phase shift armor.

As Noah took in everything there was a knock on his machine. He opened his eyes to see Mu and the lieutenant floating in front of his cockpit. "So…I'm guessing you want to see what I meant by not having the key?" he asked as he pulled his GP base from his hoodie pocket.

Mu laughed as he saw this. "So that wasn't just a gaming device after all? It actually starts this I assume?" he asked to which he received a nod. At that one hand came down to rest on his side arm, especially when the base stand rose from the center of the cockpit.

"Ok…now then…understand this is all classified." He stated as he waited for the plavsky particles to form the hard light on button. He pressed it and smirked when the two veterans gasped at the flurry of particles within the cockpit which became the controls. He rested his hands on the control balls and waited, letting them take it in. 'oh yeah…definitely wish I had a camera.' He thought as he watched them poke and prod the hard light, Murrue more hesitant than Mu.

Murrue could only stare in wonder at the nearly clear blue panels of hard light. She bit her lip in hesitance as she reached out to touch one. She wasn't an MA pilot and her first time in a MS was in the strike and she had been crap at piloting, barely able to hold her own against a GiNN. But this simple set up...it let Noah control the EX-caliber to such efficiency…

Mu laughed as he glanced at everything, seeing a reverse view of the hangar after hearing the hum of the machines power source start up and the camera's activate and take in everything. He glanced up though at the red eye, damaged head and clavicle, then remembered the mechanics showing him the arm hidden under the cape. It was in prime condition, looked brand new in fact. Yet the left side of the head and shoulder screamed that the arm should likely be destroyed, in pieces, wiring hanging from broken armor. Instead it seemed to all be a rouse as the arm underneath it all was in prime condition.

"So…that isn't a gaming device? It's the key to your machine. Who designed it? "He asked as he refocused on the cockpit.

Noah smirked, "I did. I knew I'd spend plenty of time in here. So I figured why just have a simple activation switch or something. So…I developed this...G-base. You were right though. It has games on it…and plenty of music. "Noah said as he removed the GP base just as Murrue poke a hard light screen and jumped when it wobbled due to the poke.

"But…why do this? What if the cockpit was damaged? Would those particles not leak out and distort the screens?" she asked as everything shut down and her and Mu moved back to let Noah out.

"Actually it was designed with that very occurrence in mind. The hard light is designed to disperse should damage to the cockpit occur since most injuries within a cockpit are from the screens and control panels exploding. So…if my cockpit does take damage…I won't slam my head into exploding glass and metal…just get a bad case of whip lash most likely. "He said as he pushed off the gang plank to go up and look at his machine face again. "Plus it'll come right back and reform the view screens and control panels. So unless I lose a camera I won't actually lose the ability to view it."

"Ok…I got one more question…what's up with the hidden shield?" asked Mu which brought a look of shock to Murrue. She had no idea what was under that cloak and to hear Noah had been hiding something, even a shield still…she had been just like the mechanics were originally, thinking Noah's claim of a complete mobile suit were BS when she brought them to Murdoch. He assumed the same as everyone else….the cloth was hiding a half built arm…or worse no arm at all. He was even preparing spare parts from the strike to offer Noah to finish the arm.

Noah cringed as his rouse had been seen through. He had hoped no one would have looked…but it was a pipe dream. "It's an um…well it's a rouse. Meant to make my machine seem weaker than it is. It was a last minute design as my machine was meant to be the first one to enter the world anyways. It'd seem weak, half assed with only a blade and shield and one arm. Then when the enemy got over confident I'd reveal all its gimmicks. Which I can't tell you what all they are…but that shield is only the surface of what this machine has hidden." He said with a smirk as Mu seemed to nod in agreement.

"if I was coming up to this thing in combat…at first glance I'd guess a rookie mechanic had not only built it but fixed it up after it went toe to toe with a squad of GiNNs and a couple of Nazca class destroyers and barely survived." He said as he pushed off the gang plank as well and began examining the left side of the gundam.

Noah nodded. "Again, that's the point. Sadly while I'm sure you and the refugees see Heliopolis as a failure of sorts…I'm personally glad to have the chance to meet you. If everything had gone according to plan I likely would have met you all on the battlefield, trashed your G-weapons, and subsequently sunk this ship. And that's not just bias or over estimating my own skills…"said Noah, taking on a look of sorrow. "Remember what I said lieutenant. If you don't mind I'm going to go put on a flight suit and launch with Kira….you are still handing lacus over right?" he asked before pushing off the EX-calibers head and looking around the hangar to try and ID the door to the ready room. Secretly though…if gravity were in effect he'd be jumping around like mad as he thought of putting on what essentially was an "authentic" flight suit.

As mu and Murrue exchanged worried glances she nodded to Mu who launched off the gundam to follow Noah. "Hey Noah! Follow me. I`ll help you get a suit. Why don't you explain your MS a bit more so I can know how to react to you in combat." He stated as he took ahold of Noah's arm and began pulling him towards the ready room. Murrue meanwhile headed back to the main access way to go file a report on this…she had no intent on actually sending it…more make notes of this crazy situation. So much didn't add up…yet also plenty of things fell into place. Before she left the hangar she turned around to glance at his machine, then the strike. It was not only larger than the strike…but with its paint scheme seemed to demand respect, even with the head and shoulder's "custom damage" it exuded a sense of pride and determination…like it wouldn't give up till all that was left WAS that head…

_Destroying your nightmares_

Kira found himself again speaking with lacus in the officer's lounge of the ship. Thankfully it seemed Mr. Allster and flay had gone to other areas. He looked to lacus and thought back to their conversation about athrun. "So…you're engaged to athrun? when did that happen?" he asked, trying to come up with something to say, something to keep him from thinking of what George had said in here earlier.

Lacus nodded. "Yes. It was decided by our fathers about a few months ago. Me and athrun had spent plenty of time together prior to his entrance to ZAFT and when he graduated a red his father and mine agreed it to be a good idea for us to be together and our families to be tied." she stated before glancing out a window. "As I said before he's a kind young man and I wish he had mentioned you before. I`m sure we will live a happy life together." She then looked back to Kira and smiled. "And I do hope that you both survive this war. Friends shouldn't be fighting each other as you are..."

Kira sighed when he heard her say that. "I wish we didn't have to fight. But if I don't pilot the strike my friends who are on this ship might die along with the other refugees…"said Kira though he was surprised when someone interrupted him.

Noah floated into the officer's lounge at just the right moment it seemed as he heard lacus and Kira talking. There were two things he wanted to do right now. 1…get lacus' signature just so he hopefully could use it not only as proof of what his device did…but as proof he actually met these people. Second…he wanted to punch Kira and tell him not to take the freedom. Seriously. If this wasn't gundam he wouldn't be as happy as he was hiding. In fact he'd be as serious as he was acting and even more so because this is seed. He liked seed, he felt it was an interesting reboot of most of the original series combined. But the recycled animations and Kira's general use of the freedom were his primary reasons, if any, for disliking seed. Though that still didn't mean he hated the series…just parts.

"She's right…as friends you two shouldn't be having to fight each other. Hell at your age you two shouldn't even be in the military in my opinion. But sadly there are scorned and childish adults who think otherwise." Said Noah as he floated over and smiled.

Kira smiled at his words. "Mr. Carson! I`m surprised to see you in here. I was unaware the captain had let you have access to the officers lounge." he stated as Noah floated near them.

Noah shrugged. "I go where I want. What can I say? But no…this war is ridiculous. Kids your age should be at home worrying about their next date or test or party…not piloting a machine of war. And even more so this war's entire point it mute. I mean so many people forget how many advancements mankind has made in various sciences, including genetics, that originally people fought over and then after the fighting is done they actually looked at the advances and went, hm….you know what? Doing this actually isn't a bad thing." He stated which got raised brows from both teens

"So…you're against this war as well? Then why fight in it?" asked lacus, confused as to his statement and yet knowing he was a mobile suit pilot

"Because when two idiots have the reigns of the powers of war innocents get caught in the middle and THAT is what my organization was all about. The fact that stupid people were given the keys to wars cage and instead of throwing them away…they gave him steroids and set him loose on the earth sphere. Coordinators and naturals…"he said before shaking his head.

"It's all stupid. We are all human…all this is going to climax to be is one big cluster fuck of a battle that`ll end in both sides extinction if no one stands up and says that to the powers that be. "said Noah as he closed his eyes for a moment, took a breath and opened them as he exhaled to see them once again raise their eye brows. "What? I can't be a mobile suit pilot and hate war at the same time?"

They both shook their heads as he moved for the door. "Hey kid…just remember…you're the only one who can protect her on this ship…and you're only a few hours out from meeting up with the fleet. What do you think will happen as soon as the admirals amongst the fleet find out this ship has her?" he warned before leaving.

_Destroying your nightmares_

Athrun looked at his view screen in sorrow. He was floating in space in the aegis, awaiting his childhood friend to bring his fiancée back to him after receiving a message from the apparent pilot of alpha one. He was currently contemplating the words he'd use…as much as he hated fighting him. As much as he wished to bring the strike away from the battlefield, to keep its advanced technology from killing any more of his friends…and bloodying Kira's hands. He had to get Kira to understand. They were booth coordinators. Kira shouldn't be fighting him.

He smirked though and chuckled when he thought of Kira potentially being on his team. At least until they could sink the legged ship and go home. He could picture Nicol and Kira being friends, yzaks loud and obnoxious personality likely clashing with Kira's kind and gentle soul. Dearka of course would just be neutral amongst them all, hitting on anything that came near them with an ass.

He smiled. It would be nice to have him back. But as he glanced to the legged ship and noticed it beginning to pick up speed he frowned. He remembered Kira's loyalty…and knew it would be hard to pull him away from the ship.

He noticed two mobile suits come around from the front of the legged ship his eyes went wide as he saw that black machine following. He was about to radio back to the Vesalius but he noticed the machine roll before flying off, away from their current position. He was confused...it seemed to be using this as a chance to escape the archangel. The way the strike moved even Kira was surprised by this. He wondered where the machine was going.

As the strike approached though he was even more surprised when it raised its rifle and aimed at him. The strike stopped within arms-length. "Athrun zala…" was all he heard over the open communication.

_Destroying your nightmares_

10 minutes beforehand…

Noah sat in the EX-calibers cockpit, the machine active but the door open so as to keep everyone thinking he was just performing maintenance. He was currently typing away on the hard light keyboard in his lap. He was sending a message to the Vesalius. He was trying to time this right. Almost everyone was asleep, even the mechanics were slow coming onto their second shift. The message read: "sorry for wrecking your ship but thought I'd give you a heads up. The strike is intent on returning Ms. Clyne. Keep your distance and launch the aegis. Strikes launch imminent. Will accompany. Any attacks on the ship will be intercepted and returned 2 fold. End message"

The moment he fired off the message of course he heard a commotion outside the cockpit and pushed a hard light screen to the side and poked his head out. Sure enough he could see Kira pulling a pregnant looking lacus towards the strike. He could only do a face palm. He had left a duffle bag he found in the ready room on purpose to stop that from happening. Stupid girl and her dresses.

As the strike headed for the launch bay he was pinged from the bridge. He smirked and answered it. "Yes ma'am what can I do for you?" he asked as he was already closing the cockpit.

A comm screen formed from the particles and Murrue was on screen. "Kira is launching with Ms. Clyne in the strike! Can you stop them?" she asked, concerned at the fact that he was already in the EX-caliber.

Noah just shook his head. "Nope…he already closed the starboard launch airlock. I could follow in the port side though and try to keep ZAFT from pulling any stunts…"he proposed as he was already flexing his hands to pull the stupid stunt he had planned…he just hoped he could come back from it.

He saw Murrue watch him launch from the ship and smirked when she turned and yelled, "launch approved! The EX-caliber is to recover the strike and its pilot for disciplinary action!" she commanded before he gave her a mock salute.

"Yes ma'am. EX-caliber will launch immediately." He said as he moved the machine to the port launch bay. He took a deep breath as he felt it get locked into the catapult. "one small step for mankind…"he whispered before he felt the g-forces push him back into his chair as he was rocketed out of the ship, "ONE GIANT STEP FOR GEEKS EVERYWHERE!" he shouted as he pushed the EX-calibers accelerator and began to follow the strike but had no intention of continuing past the rear of the ship.

_Destroying your nightmares_

It seemed that they got his message, and was surprised Kira still gave basically the same speech over open com's he had in the series but he paid no attention to it. The moment he was out of range of the archangel's rear CIWS and missile tubes he rolled his machine to the left and took off.

Still listening to Kira's demands he was surprised to hear him stutter when he rolled away and flew off into space. But unless his machine truly had a GN tau drive suddenly he should be fine doing what he planned to and if his theory didn't work still be able to get back to the archangel and rot in the brig till the simulation ended…or they reached orb...or whenever Murrue regained her faith in him. Either way he had to do this outside of prying eyes of either the archangel and her crew or ZAFT.

_Destroying your nightmares_

Barring Noah's seemingly horrible timed abandonment of them Kira was feeling pretty confident right now. He sat in the cockpit of the strike, its rifle aimed at the aegis. He had just opened a channel with the aegis and called out to see if it was athrun inside.

"I'm here Kira…" stated athrun which allowed Kira to sigh in relief.

"Open your cockpit." he stated as he loosened his grip on the right arms control stick. He glanced to lacus and saw her smile when the aegis' cockpit opened. Kira pressed the switch on his control console to open his own cockpit. He looked back up to her before saying, "you have to say something."

Lacus gave him a confused look.

"You have to say something. He can't see your face so he can't confirm that you're in here." He said before motioning towards the aegis. She nodded and turned to look at it as well.

"Oh of course…hi athrun! It's good to see you again!" she called out as she shifted in the seat.

Athrun smiled. "I confirm its lacus." Said athrun as he glanced at his monitors. That mystery mobile suit was nowhere in sight. He was curious as to where it went but also hoped he never saw it again. It held too many mysteries and was too proficient with that sword for his liking...especially when he usually forced himself to get tied up with Kira to protect him. If he could bring Kira with him this time finally he didn't want Kira to hesitate and die against such a monster.

Kira smiled, "then get ready, I'm sending her over." stated Kira before gently nudging the pink princess off his lap and out the hatch. He used both hands to help guide her out straight. He smiled when he saw athrun catch her.

Athrun was glad to see lacus was safe. Though when he looked her over he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her large and rounded abdomen. He guessed she likely was storing something in her suit, likely one of the dresses she usually wore. It actually made him smile. Her and those dresses. And to see haro in her arms made him think of the bird he made for Kira…which brought him back to his current problem.

"Kira come back with us. After what they`ve done with lacus surely you have no reason to stay with the earth forces. You wouldn't even have to pilot the strike anymore!" he called to his friend, hoping to finally get through to him. "Even that other pilot has left…surely you have to understand you should be with us not them." he stated though for a moment he felt like he was channeling his father's rage for naturals with how he worded that.

Kira sighed and looked down at the controls for the strike. "Truly athrun I wish I could. I wish we didn't have to fight anymore. But I have people on that ship I truly feel I have to protect. Without me and the strike there's no way they will survive and until I get them home I`m afraid I have to stay with the ship." He said. He almost wanted to beg athrun to join him. He was sure athrun had friends in the plants, and even more so the team he fought with likely were friends with him….but he also wanted him to meet his friends…he wanted to meet HIS friends he just…he wanted to stop this fighting.

"Then the next time we see each other on the battlefield Kira I won't show you any mercy!" cried out athrun before turning into the aegis with lacus.

Kira nodded solemnly. "The same goes for me…"he stated before closing his cockpit and turning to head around back to the archangel.

_Destroying your nightmares_

Le creuset was once again grinding his teeth, but now in his cockpit. Damn that alpha one. When it had sent a message out for them to send out the aegis he had assumed it a trick, and had been in his own CGUE awaiting the pilot to ignore its own message and attack the aegis and hit it with everything he had. Oh he had been waiting with anticipation…but then the captain told him that alpha one had flown off on its own. "damn you alpha one…" the fact it had even launched irked him as he knew la flaga was likely in the wings, like him, and Ms. Clyne would do everything in her power as a memorial representative to stop the fighting given the girl followed her father in that aspect. So he decided to save himself the trouble and began powering down his CGUE. With alpha one still on the field somewhere he couldn't take the chance of it somehow coming back to bite him in the rear for it just being him and athrun on the field. No…when he faced alpha one he wanted to be able to focus solely on it. Not have to worry about that annoying hawk or the strike interfering. Those eyes…. They had been looking at him, he could FEEL IT! And he would face that challenge only with his best.

For now athrun was returning with lacus and his vessel would be leaving to hand her over to another team to return to the capital. He'd have to leave the legged ship and it's destruction to the rest of his team.

He chuckled.

If alpha one showed up…

…he'd likely be down one red…..

**Destroying your nightmares **

**So….there's a more original chapter. I realize the first half may seem rushed and Noah is acting the polar opposite to how he feels…and I may have gone off character for murrue and la flaga. But originally I'll admit I was having trouble thinking of how to continue this due to plans with the blitz and Nicol being dashed by fellow gundam fan comments within my gundam group helping me make the story better by downsizing the arsenal of the EX-caliber. Well not knowing not how continue. More how to do it without falling into my bad habit of following the story EXACTLY as things happen. **

**BUT! I have fixed this. So yeah…on with the show! **


	3. surprise!

**Well here we go for another round. Hope you guys are enjoying the story. Please leave reviews. Even just a "great story" or "love to read more" or I'll even accept "this story is shit" reviews keep my drive going no matter how simple or hateful they can be plus criticism is always enjoyed to help make the fic better.**

**I own nothing in terms of the gundam seed characters or the base model parts of the EX-caliber gundam though its personal design and name are mine. Thank Bandai though for the basics. Also thank nemesis astrea once again for letting me use his basic plot point of the ZERO system. **

_Blades of dreams_

Silence had reigned over the bridge for the past five minutes. Murrue could already feel the headache coming on. Not only had Kira returned Ms. Clyne to pilot of the aegis….but now Noah and his suit have disappeared. She was rubbing her temple as she sat in the captain's chair. Kira was just coming back in with the strike, soldiers heading down to escort him to her office for an impromptu "court martial" which she just KNEW the vice foreign minister would insist on putting his two cents into if his comments about Noah being imprisoned were any sign.

Finally natarle spoke up. "Captain…what should we do about the EX-caliber's escape?" she asked. She remembered him stating he had both the E.A. and ZAFT as enemies. Even if he had made that deal with lieutenant Ramius he still clearly outmatched Kira in skill by…well she prayed he never decided to attack them. Should he decide to return to his groups principles and ideals he could slaughter them without a second thought. She wasn't a fool. She knew that the vice foreign ministers ideas about this ship and the originally intended mobile suit compliment were pipe dreams. The phase shift armor may hold against his blade but even with them knowing about his left arm…that suit clearly held many mysteries and may have even stronger capabilities.

Murrue looked back to natarle, then around her bridge. Everyone looked to her like they had just been singled out by the entire ZAFT fleet which had all their guns trained on them. Especially Kira's friends. They looked terrified. Their ship was nothing to laugh at but even so with what Noah had done to the Vesalius in such a short time….with only Kira and LT commander la flaga to defend them and ZAFT constantly on their tail…Noah had multiple choices on how to destroy them. But he had yet to face any of the prototypes so it was still unclear how his blade may react to phase shift armor and even more so if he got tangled in with the other four prototypes whether they could handle his machine and skills or if he may succumb to their advanced armaments. After all 2 ginns wasn't the same as facing even one of the prototypes as many GINN pilots had discovered with Kira.

So…she took a deep breath and put on a look of determination. "We won't worry about that now. Noah left radar range and has been since we increased our speed to put some space between us and the other ZAFT vessel. I think it's safe to say we won't be seeing him again. If we do we assume he's hostile. Understood?" she commanded to the bridge which got a chorus of 'yes ma'am's. she sighed though and floated out of her seat along with natarle. "Ensign Neumann you have the bridge till we return. "She stated as they both left.

"Yes ma'am" he responded as he focused on making sure they were headed in the correct direction.

_Blades of dreams_

Noah groaned as he looked over all available data on the simulation so far…which there was very little. Somehow what was meant to be the simulations diagnostic recordings had become a combat record, mission recordings and mobile suit diagnostics the moment he had rammed the GiNN. He kind of wished he had a physical console to slam his head into multiple times due to how annoying this was becoming. He had to admit though…this had some good things come out of it so far.

First of all he got to actually see his gunpla…no his gundam in 1:1 scale. No one else could say that.

Second he hadn't thought of it till just before he stopped in the middle of space…HE WAS IN SPACE! IN A GUNDAM! He had opened his cockpit after double checking his flight suit was closed up and got out of his seat and floated out onto the small platform the hatch made and looked around.

He had to admit it was beautiful. The sight of seeds earth, the stars…it was all so much to take in. he had quickly gotten back in his suit though as since this was his new reality he assumed he had a limited air supply in his flight suit and his gundam. Meaning he had tests to perform.

Now he was trying to figure out how this had happened. Of course he now had gone into the coding of his GP base and created a program where he could make notes for the purpose of potentially replicating this experience...after all he already knew when this ended he'd likely be getting a job in orb and saying screw it to ending the simulation. Get a job, buy a small apartment….THEN go home to reality. Because unless he could find a way back sooner…sooner or later he'd become attached to these people, he'd even forget whenever he was out of the EX-caliber that this was originally a simulation, and it was an animated reality...not actual REALITY. So why not try and make his own little alternate dimension home? I mean who wouldn't? Though again he'd have preferred it be in a different series…but in seed at least his machine would reign supreme…as far as he knew. So far his only combat had been against ginns…and that was also due to the element of surprise.

Though still if this was proof of anything this was proof of the string theory and almost any multi-dimensional theories.

So he began trying to pinpoint how he actually got here. The fact he had exited the ship and opened the cockpit to space was proof enough HE WAS HERE. No longer back in his little home turned lab with Luke waiting outside. That made him frown. Luke was likely worried. He had been here for nearly 24 hours. He hoped Luke didn't try to use the machine. He wasn't a long time fighter like he was so he could never replicate everything he did. He'd likely get killed by the Vesalius and then Noah would probably be blamed for his murder and…

He shook his head. He was not gonna spiral about this. This was a good thing. He smirked as he wondered how many coordinator girls he could charm if he managed to get on ZAFTs good side and get into the plants.

Again he shook his head. "Time to get serious. Ok…without the 00[T]'s GN sword bits I'm screwed trying that route…what if I put out so many GN particles it over loaded the plavsky particles with trans-am? I mean it's a crazy and stupid theory given people use trans-am in gunpla battles but…then again I'm having to use myself as a sound board while in a gundam series slowly running out of air in my cockpit. Yeah…I think anything crazy is possible now."

Noah began to use what he could access of the zero system to know where the archangel should be by now so he could intercept them and any potential attacks. "I guess…by now yzak will be convincing the rest of team council princess' to attack the archangel and get some super cred with the higher ups by sinking it. It wouldn't hurt to use the trans-am to get back there if this doesn't work." Said Noah as he got ready to test the trans-am system by flexing his fingers and hands to get ready to grip the controls.

"Once again…one small step for man…one giant stupid step for inventors! TRANS-AM!" he shouted before using his control orbs to approve the systems use. From there he could hear the GN drive behind him begin to spin up faster and prayed this got him home. The last thing he needed was to get attached to fictional characters…dear lord he'd be insane in reality.

With that he pushed the accelerator and maneuvered along the path the ZERO system gave him. If he ever got out of here he was going to the 00 universe during season 2 and giving Ian Vashti a giant hug…he was loving this and he was the only person he could think of to thank for it in that universe….oh and to punch Lyle…Neil was better…and Feldt a hug…it always seemed in season 2 she needed one…

_Blades of dreams_

Just as Noah predicted yzak had his fellow team members gathered around the hollow table. Yzak had just finished explaining his plan to attack and sink the legged ship to which Nicol was concerned. He knew yzak was a hothead but this plan…it had damn near suicide written all over it.

"Yeah we can catch the other alliance vessel and the legged ship but we'd only have ten minutes till we are within firing range of the lunar fleet." he said. The green haired coordinator then remembered the other factor. "there's also alpha one….we don't know it's full capabilities and while it left the legged ship it could still have somehow gone ahead to the lunar fleet to inform them of the situation. It could end up meeting up with them again." said Nicol, reminding his teammates of the recent addition to their list of targets. The fact it ran away confused everyone but most were still on edge. After all if the blitz could cloak under mirage colloid particles who's to say that machine couldn't use that odd engine to stay cloaked longer nearby?

Dearka smirked and stated, "You mean a FULL ten minutes." The buster's blonde pilot glanced back at the map. "And while its true alpha one very well may be nearby what difference does it make. It's a close quarter's suit. As far as we know it doesn't have any ranged weapons and we all do. If not Nicol you just cloak up and hit him from behind with a lancer dart while I or yzak distract him. There he's dealt with. And that's just one way we could eliminate him. If athrun were here maybe he could handle him and let us take a crack at the strike for once." he said as he was also thinking of how the buster would fare against the mystery suit.

Yzak chuckled. "I suggest the cowards keep their mouths shut. Alpha one got lucky hitting those two ginns and attacking the Vesalius. It has to be piloted by a natural. They`ll slip up soon enough." He said before glancing to Nicol and continued, "Now are there only ten minutes or a FULL ten minutes? It`s all in how you look at it. Besides if we have a window to hit the legged ship without alpha one there I say we take it. The other alliance vessel has begun to pull ahead, likely to link up with the fleet for supplies before going to a shipyard on the moon." He said as he once again looked to the tactical map.

Dearka nodded. "I couldn't agree more. That machine may be an easy target given the obvious damage it's already taken plus it's specialization but that doesn't mean it won't simply force us to take more time while potentially sacrificing itself if it does come back. Either way we either take out the legged ship or we take out alpha one. Win win either way." He stated which got a smile out of yzak.

"Besides a surprise attack isn't decided on how much time you take. It's decided on what you do with the element of surprise." he stated though he got a slight chill down his spine when he stated that. Like he had just jinxed something. He ignored it though

Nicol realized he was fighting a losing battle but decided to try to be the voice of reason one more time. "I'm aware of that but there's also…" sadly he was interrupted by the teams hothead.

"Look I hear the Vesalius is turning right around to help launch an attack on the lunar fleet as soon as it hands Ms. Clyne to the lacoony team. I say by then we should have the legged ship sunk and alpha one destroyed or captured by then. Agreed?" he asked, looking to the buster's pilot first.

The tan coordinator naturally agreed.

Nicol however was concerned by yzaks cocky attitude. "Fine…" he stated and with that they pushed off to head for the bridge door to go prep for this sneak attack.

_Blades of dreams_

Murrue groaned as she listened to the vice foreign minister. Suffice to say what had happened was not going over well with him. Though his attitude more towards Noah's "defection" as he was calling it was concerning. More so to the fact he STILL wanted the EX-caliber. Like Kira would have a snowballs chance in hell shooting down that machine not to mention capturing it. ZAFT may fool themselves with thoughts of capturing it with just it's one sword as it's only weapons and shield shown as of yet once they learned it also had that left arm…it may not seem like much but knowing Noah could make it look like it was trashed only concerned her with what all that machine might be hiding. She didn't exactly think of him as a god or that his machine was unbeatable, no everything and everyone had their breaking point, but the fact it did all the damage it did with just one blade made that shield all the more dangerous if it had anything hidden up its sleeve.

"and to think if you had just kept him locked up or demanded he hand over that…that key thing he'd still be on this ship and we could force him to hand over the data on that machine. But noooo….you had to be nice and let him keep it…let him have free reign of this ship…this whole ship is a military secret! Do you understand just what you`ve done!?"

Just what Murrue expected of a politician. The moment their plans blow up in their face they shove the blame on someone else's actions or blow smoke to keep eyes off them. She sighed and as he finally finished his rant stated, "Yes vice foreign minister. Had I not listened to you and kept him locked up or restricted his access on this ship or even taken his "G-base" he would still be onboard and we could get his machines secrets." she droned as she watched him calm as she accepted the blame was all on her.

What happened next made her thank ZAFT for their tenacity. Right as Mr. Allster was about to continue, likely something to pat his own back with or to degrade her or blame her for something else her personal computer dinged with a message from the bridge. She tapped it before he could say anything. "What's the problem ensign badgiruel?" she asked as she stood up and fixed her uniform.

"Captain we have the stolen prototypes inbound. We need you up here ASAP. We are also about to launch the strike and mobeius zero. "Stated the ensign.

Murrue nodded. "Yes launch both of them with the strike in aile configuration. I`ll be on the bridge momentarily." She then closed the channel and headed towards her door. "I apologize vice foreign minister but I'm needed on the bridge. I`d be more than happy to continue later. "She said before leaving, mentally noting to NOT continue that conversation later.

_Blades of dreams_

Kira was inwardly regretting ever deciding to pilot this mobile suit. He had just been informed of his opponents. The Blitz, the buster and the duel. He hated fighting. He hated it. But at the same time if he didn't there was a strong chance his friends and he would be dead. And with Noah gone now he and Mu were the only combatants on board.

As he heard miriallia tell him once again he was being equipped with the aile pack he thought back to that mystery pilot. Where did he go? What was he doing? Did his suit really have enough power to fly…well anywhere? He had left in the middle of space. Finally his thoughts were broken by miriallia saying he was clear to launch. "Kira yamato, strike, heading out!" he called out before being pushed back in his seat while the catapult launched him from the ship. The moment he was away he activated the aile packs flight system as well as the phase shift armor the strike possessed.

Kira heard the captain state they only had to hold out for a few minutes. It brought him some relief till he watched the three prototypes fly back to back in a circle before breaking to reveal the Laurasia class behind them firing its main cannons from under the vessel.

He watched the LT commander engage the buster, its gun barrel pods hitting it in the chest with no effect. The physical bullets it fired would have no effect on its phase shift armor. Meanwhile he watched the blitz flying beside the duel break off to head for the archangel. The Lt Commander tried to break off to get it but the buster beat him to the bunch, barely missing the nimble mobile armor.

A moment later he began trading fire with the duel. He hoped by some miracle Noah showed up and on their side. If not then he needed to finish this, fast!

_Blades of dreams_

Natarle listened closely to the sounds of the bridge. Reports being called out for damage, enemy positions, updates on the strikes fight…then she heard the blitz was in the valiant rail guns firing range. "Fire!" she yelled to her CIC crew. She could heard the rail gun fire off several rounds before getting a report that the blitz had activated its mirage colloid system and gone off radar. "Damn…now we have to wait and see what it does next." She thought.

If there was one machine out of all the prototypes she hated zaft having, it was the blitz. A stealth unit and in a time like this it became an annoying fly. Usually it and the aegis would tag team the strike while the buster and the duel traded blows with the mobeius zero or did attack runs on the ship. This time there were three of them…one for each of their targets.

She got the command from the captain to use anti-beam depth charges and anti-air missiles. She had the perfect strategy for those with the blitz. "Fire anti beam depth charges! Load stern launchers with anti-air warheads!" she called out. And just in time. Not a moment later she could feel the anti-beam charges go off, meaning the blitz had fired.

"Calculate the blitz's position from its shot's angle!" she commanded and waited to hear back from targeting.

A moment later she got the confirmation that they had its approximate position. "Fire anti-air warheads!" she yelled and a moment later heard the missile tubes launch. "That should give him a reason to stay back." She thought. The missiles weren't much more then missile versions of shotguns full of super-heated birdshot but it would do the trick to most machines. But the blitz had phase shift armor….she hoped it hit hard enough to actually scare off the blitz.

_Blades of dreams_

Nicol grunted as he switched from his mirage colloid back to his phase shift armor just in time to have it take the brunt of the anti-air warheads. "That's right you built this machine. You would know its weakness'. "he stated as he re-cloaked and moved in to try another attack run. Sadly just as he flew in the legged ships anti-air system lit up the space around it like a Christmas tree. "Curse you legged ship…."he stated as he had to reactivate the phase shift armor and bring up his trikeros weapons system as a shield.

He was about to try and fly out of it and find a new attack avenue but then the Laurasia class vessel they launched from began trading fire once again with the legged ship as it turned to try and face them while still heading to the lunar fleets position. With their focus on the ship he took his chance and flew to the ship, landing on a wing and beginning to fire lasers from the rifle built into his trikeros shield at a spot that the Laurasia class vessel had hit a couple times. "Come on…break you stupid shit!" he shouted as he fire another shot.

He took a moment to glance at his monitor to see how yzak was handling the strike in their sword duel and noticed the strike suddenly change its fighting style, as if it had gone berserk. It was deftly dodging yzaks blade while seeming to have a plan of attack.

That momentary lapse in concentration though was enough as he yelled in shock as the blitz shook from something hitting it almost moments after alarms blared of an incoming unknown…

_Blades of dreams_

"I'm just in time…gotta get there before Kira hits the duel if I'm gonna time this right…"said Noah as he glanced to his trans-am monitor. He was moments from dropping out and he knew his particle output would be shit till his GN drive could recharge once he did so he pushed his accelerator as far as it would go…turned into the hit…and bam! He charged the blitz and put his shoulder into its back, knocking it off the archangel's wing.

He cringed. "Ouch…Nicol isn't gonna like me for that. Sorry kid but that thing is too valuable for me to pass on this moment. If I'm gonna fuck this series up I'm gonna save a few lives along the way!" he shouted as he dropped out of trans-am and landed on the archangel right where Nicol had been but launched off it, using it to make up for his lack of speed as he again floored the accelerator and brought his right knee up into the blitz's cockpit door.

"Gotta put enough dents into that power supply that this will work…please Mu, Kira…hold off the buster and duel just a moment longer. And natarle…you best not fire at me just quite yet." He stated as he put the machine into a spin and kicked the blitz in the cockpit. He knew Nicol had to be getting rattled in there. And with every hit he knew he was lowering the phase shift armors power supply quite a bit if the EX-caliber was performing anything like in gunpla battles. He had put extra work into the joints and reinforced the feet, knees and shoulders just for times like this so he didn't need to rely on his speed too much after a trans-am.

With that kick to the chest Noah brought the GN blade 3 up and just as he saw Nicol beginning to come back to his sense by trying to block with the trikeros shield he brought it down on his machines chest, sparks flying as the red, condensed GN particle portion of the blade collided with the phase shift armor.

He grunted as he tried to push down but barely made a dent. "Had to have hit his power supply hard…ok...let's try it…"he stated as he decided to just throw caution to the wind and let ZAFT and the archangel's crew in on his secret weapon. With that as Nicol raised the trikeros shield in an attempt to fire at Noah he raised the left arm from the cloak which seemed to surprise Nicol as his beam shot was blocked by the shield.

"yep…I got a second arm…secrets out of the bag may as well show you another trick!" he shouted as the blitz attempted to back away but Noah just pushed forward.

With a dramatic raise of the left arm Noah let yet another secret fly as the two black bars along the shield opened to form a line at the base of the shield and began to glow a blood red. He then brought it down on the blitz and what happened made Noah smile as his calculations were correct.

As Noah brought the equivalent of a low powered beam saber down on the blitz's torso like a hammer he watched as the phase shift armor dissipated and the blade melted into the torso slowly, causing it's eyes to flash a few times before the machine went limp and the eyes went dark

He quickly pulled the blade out of the torso and brought the shield up to block a shot from the buster as it tried to rescue its friend. In the meantime Kira managed to give yzak his scar, Noah glancing at his screen to see Kira dig his armor Schneider knife into the open gash his beam saber created while he was fighting in berserk mode before kicking it away and boosting back to dodge a shot from the Laurasia class vessel.

Noah opened a channel with the buster. "Two friends dead in the water…which are you gonna save?" he asked before closing it and moving between his prize and the buster. He was right to guess the buster decided his machine was not one he wanted to tango with while the strike already showed signs of Kira coming out of berserk mode while he continued to evade fire from the ZAFT vessel.

The buster flew towards Kira and yzak and began to force Kira back further. Noah meanwhile opened a channel with mu as he seemed to give up on the buster in favor of aiming at him. "Guess I'm priority one enemy right now? "He asked to which Mu just seemed to glare at him. "Hey at least I got you guys a present….oh but the pilot is mine. I have plans with him…"he stated which only got mu to glare at him more.

_Blades of dreams_

Nicol was just trying to figure out what hit him when a machine with a similar paint job to his filled his view screen and he was shaken again as it hit his cockpit with its knee. "Damn it…I KNEW IT'D COME BACK!" he yelled as he tried to maneuver the blitz away from the mystery machine. But before he could get any considerable distance the machine seemed to help him…and give Nicol a bigger headache and case of whiplash as it spun and kicked him. He tried to get a glimpse under the cloak it had but had to close his eyes and force himself into his chair to not get too rattled.

He couldn't tell what alpha one was trying to do. Shouldn't it be using that…oh there it is. Finally he was beginning to get away from the black and red death machine only to have it close the distance a bit slower than he expected but still he tried to activate his mirage colloid but stopped as he saw the machine raise its sword. He closed his eyes.

This was it…he was dead….except instead he heard it hit the top of his torso, heard it grinding on the phase shift armor and thanked whatever god was watching out for him…then cursed it as he looked to his power meter. He was almost out. Another hit like that would do more then leave a dent as it likely had. He raised his trikeros shield to try and fire off a couple beam shots to force the machine back but then fate just gave him the middle finger.

From behind its cloak came an arm. That arm had a shield attached to it. That shield was bigger then it's sword's shield. That shield blocked his beams with ease. Nicol quickly returned to saying his prayers as he saw his power meter run out and tried to think of some way out of this without having to self-destruct only to have everything go black. No he didn't die…he didn't pass out…no, just…everything went black. The pilot of alpha one had raised its shield and he saw a pair of black bars swing forward and start to glow…then saw it drop and then nothing.

The mystery machine had been going for his main power control systems. Everything was off. All monitors, all firing controls. Hell the kick and knee to the cockpit door at this point had jammed it to where the back-up power that would open it in a case like this wouldn't even respond. So with his prayers said he tried to activate the self-destruct system…and wanted to cry.

He couldn't even self-destruct….he was going to be captured. He would be captured and tortured and die a POW….well hopefully his team would try to rescue him…if not at least he could hope he died from them blowing it up. Then at least he could go out knowing it was sunk.

Nicol hung his head…and waited for him to be brought aboard to the legged ship and removed from the blitz. He had no clue just what awaited him onboard.

_Blessed blades_

Murrue was cursing whatever deity got her into this mess. The Laurasia class wasn't leaving them alone and the blitz was about to break through their laminated armor and then tear right into the bridge. She didn't want to go out like this…not so close to the end. Then out of the blue she heard radar shout, "He's back! EX-caliber just came in on radar and…shit its Flying 3 times as fast as it was before!"

She nearly fainted hearing that. It was already a fast machine and suddenly it was faster. She was just waiting for this all to end now…till she heard the CIC.

"Noah just rammed the blitz off the Archangel...HE'S ATTACKING THE BLITZ!" shouted radar and soon murrue got a glimpse of the machine. It wasn't moving faster. If anything it was sluggish compared to its previous nimble fighting. This was accented by the lack of use of its sword and how instead it seemed to opt for heavy hits with its feet and knee. She gasped though as she saw the EX-caliber bring up its shield.

Something had to of changed while Noah was MIA. Perhaps he had gone to find a potential second cell of celestial being? Maybe he had tried to find some other organization? Hell maybe he just was nearly out of power after that high speed entrance and needed someplace to recharge...somehow. Either way she was not going to argue his entrance was timely and much appreciated…again….he certainly had a bad habit already of rescuing them.

The entire bridge gasped though as they watched what he did next by raising the shield. To see those bars glow…. "So that's why you hide it…it's not just a shield…"she whispered as she saw him drop it on the blitz just before its phase shift armor deactivated.

She expected it to explode, whether from self-detonation or from the strike Noah made. Neither happened. It just floated behind Noah as he moved around it after Mu attempted to move in and collect it due to natarle command. "Belay that order! Tell Mu to escort Noah and the Blitz back to the hangar. I have a feeling he has plans with the blitz if it isn't destroyed. Ensign Badgiruel! You have the bridge till I return. I`m going to go see what he wants this time. When we link up with the fleet if any members of command wish to come aboard let them." she stated as she got out of her chair and began to float out of the bridge.

_Blades of dreams_

Noah watched as the technicians were working on opening the blitz's cockpit. He half expected to find Nicol's corpse in there but at the same time he was hoping the boy had some will to live even as a POW. If the green haired coordinator acted anything like he did in the show he knew just the words to get him to join him….and later join the archangel. Which meant he lived, the blitz survived, and on top of that it meant another coordinator on the ship…he felt that was his way of pissing on azreals impending grave. Now to find a way to save the lieutenant…well soon to be lieutenant.

In the meantime though alliance soldiers had their guns trained on him though he gave up holding his hands up and was waiting to keep them from opening fire on Nicol.

"Ok…it's opening!" called Murdoch as he pushed off the gangplank and floated back.

The cockpit door opened and all the soldiers surrounding it raised their guns as Nicol floated out, hands raised. He glanced over to see Noah and blinked. He didn't say anything just simply looked at him then back to the soldiers. Seemed he'd at least keep his dignity.

With that he was searched and relieved of his side arm then the mechanics began to look over the Blitz to make sure it wasn't set up to self-destruct or any other form of trap were awaiting them.

The soldiers looked to the captain though as she floated towards them. She met them on the gang plank and they saluted which she returned. Before she could ask Nicol anything he closed his eyes and stated," my name is Nicol Amalfi, I'm a zaft red and I am the pilot who stole the blitz. That's all you`ll get out of me." He seemed to clearly think he was in the position of a POW…

Which he'd be correct had murrue not seen Noah's smirk. She turned to him…and slapped him. "That is for gaining my trust to allow you to roam the ship then disappearing without warning…"she said before punching him across the face only to have a guard stop him from floating off. "And that is for giving nearly everyone on the bridge a heart attack when you show up out of the blue AGAIN moving far faster than even most battleships and not radioing us. We thought you had every notion to attack us. But…"she said as she glanced at Nicol. "Given your vicious assault on the blitz and the grin on your face I assume you didn't capture the blitz for our benefit. Before you do ANYTHING I want to know what your plan is. I also want a full load out for your machine before I let you anywhere near it. For the time being you and Mr. Amalfi can each enjoy a cell in the brig. I`ll also be taking the key to your machine" she said as she held her hand out to Noah who seemed more than happy to hand over his G-base to the soon to be captain.

She then looked to the soldiers and nodded. They then nudged Noah and Nicol to get moving. "Don't try anything coordinator. You either Noah. "One said as the two pilots were escorted out of the hangar. Nicol just kept his hands raised, seemingly wary of Noah and more importantly what role he'd play if he were to try anything. They were still in the hangar and if he moved right he could potentially move for alpha one…but he just heard the legged ship's captain mention something about a key. So it had a different system then the gat series proto-types. That was intriguing. Instead he just followed the guidance of the soldiers to the brig, trying to memorize the route they took in any manner he could for a potential escape later.

_Blades of dreams_

Murrue sat at her desk filling out her after action report. She hated these things. Half the time her reports were less thorough then natarle's, and she'd eventually hear about this when command showed up, but at the same time the more she wrote about Kira and the strike or the other civilians manning the bridge the more she worried that they may be forced to stay, basically conscripted into the military if only due to their already substantial knowledge of the ship and in Kira's case his piloting skills.

And now she had to write in the factor they had captured the blitz. She bit her lip. She knew that look on Noah's face. She'd seen it on multiple people's faces, most notably as of late the LT commander. He had some stupid and crazy plan that had to do with Mr. Amalfi. She also figured the blitz would become involved in one way or another. She sighed. She knew that if his plan worked they may very well have another mobile suit protecting them…but at what cost?

He was part of the le creuset team. One of zafts most notable teams and the same one to be dogging them since they stole the 4 prototypes. His knowledge would be invaluable were he questioned by the higher ups. But he was just a kid, no older then Kira. Then there was Noah's claim about blue cosmos infecting almost every level of the civilian government as well as the military chain of command. Even if she got a promise of admiral halberton that he'd be treated fairly if Noah was right the moment Nicol was out of her custody he could be killed at any moment.

Being his student she knew the admiral had a soft spot for coordinators. He was no true sympathizer and he'd defend his homeland till his final breath against them…but even she knew he'd likely never kill a child, even a coordinator, unless he absolutely had to such as if they were to attack him.

She sighed yet again and decided to leave her report for now. She had about 20 minutes before she'd need to be on the bridge in order to talk the crew through linking up with the fleet. But before that she needed to know Noah's plan and if it involved the zaft red in any way before she handed him over to the fleet potentially. From there she got up from her chair and left for the brig.

_Blades of dreams_

Noah sighed as he sat against the wall in the brig. He was still trying to finalize his sales pitch to Nicol. He intended to recruit him to celestial being and convince him to protect this ship. That may take a bit considering it meant betraying his former team and his homeland. But if he let him get handed over to the alliance there was a strong chance all he would have done by capturing him and the blitz was give them the blitz's combat data and make new versions of the daggers with its data along with have Nicol die in a manner that compromised athrun and Kira's fateful fight that allowed them to retrieve the freedom and justice. And that would not turn out well….

Nicol though seemed to get the hint from what murrue had stated as he spoke first. "So you're the pilot of alpha one?" he asked from his cell next to Noah's. He was trying to gather some information mainly because he was confused by the captain's words. What had she meant by the fact this pilot had plans for him? Wasn't alpha ones pilot part of the alliance? He heard the blonde pilot chuckle.

"That's what their calling it? Alpha one? Well…I guess I am the alpha dog here. But no, it's called EX-caliber. And yes I'm its pilot. And I'm sure you confused as to how I was treated by the captain back there. I`m not part of the alliance." he stated as he cracked his neck. Time to play his cards right.

Nicol was confused. He wasn't part of the alliance? Then maybe he was black ops undercover? Was he part of zaft? No, someone like commander le creuset who was close to athruns father, the minister of defense for the plants and likely next supreme chairmen if the polls had anything to say about it, would have been informed of a black ops unit, especially one using such unbelievable tech.

Nicols brows furrowed as he tried to figure this out. "If you're not with the earth alliance then why do you fight for this ship?" he asked as he was also assuming the pilot in the opposite cell was a coordinator like the strikes pilot. If he had no affiliation with this ship then why fight to defend it?

Again Noah chuckled. "Fight for it? Kid I fought off the aegis and its ship and kicked your green haired ass. Two fights…and not specifically to defend this ship. Just because I chose not to destroy it doesn't mean I'm with them. Plus I'm a natural. How insulted do you think any coordinator would be if they found out a natural could pilot such an advanced machine?" he asked as he glanced back at the wall.

That baffled Nicol even more. He was a natural? But…the way the machine moved…the footage they received from athrun and the Vesalius…it had moved as if the machine itself were alive, not piloted by anyone. "But…" that was all he could say. He couldn't think of how to state such an obvious question without sounding like an idiot.

"Training. I`m part of an organization called celestial being. Or I should say not only was I born into it…I USED to be part of it. We were at Heliopolis in another facility. My machine was the only finished one along with a container that was meant to house it in our own prototype carrier. So we got ejected like one of the shelters when your dumb asses attacked. The rest of the organization was destroyed due to a self-destruct system built into our little corner of Heliopolis. "he said, leaving his brief background explanation there so Nicol could chew on that. He was smirking though. He had the coordinator right where he needed him.

Again Nicol got more questions than answers. Training? That was all he got for an answer, no BS about some sci-fi grade augmentations, or something helping him pilot…just training. "So…wait…you're the last of your organization? But…what side did you intend to fight for? I mean you were clearly building mobile suits if what you say is true. Likely a prototype line like the g-weapon series. SO, you intended to join the war or profit off it by selling them. I just can't understand which." he said, now more than ever wanting to hear more about this pilot. Talk about an enigma. The more he learned about him the more questions he had.

Noah shook his head from within his cell. "Neither. Celestial beings goal was to end this war. We were to perform armed interventions wherever acts of aggression were occurring. Any military facilities would be our targets, any sort of armed forces our enemies. The mobile weapons we were building known as gundams would be superior in every way to what zaft could produce…though I'll admit part of the alliances G-weapons project came from us…we gave them our left overs since we did feel like they had a very, VERY poor handicap without it. I don't know the full plan, only that my machine was the original fruits of their efforts and therefore the only complete unit. Anyways to answer your question we would have fought both sides till they decided we were too strong and gave up or became a united front to try and bring us down I'd guess. "He stated as he once again twisted celestial being ideology in order to cover his ass. If one paid attention in gundam 00 though it was clearly true.

Nicol sighed and glanced up at the ceiling. "So then I take it you're merely on this ship as a means to reach earth?" he asked, once again glancing at the bars as if to hope he'd see the man he was speaking to.

Noah shrugged. "Not entirely sure why I'm on this ship. I mean my mobile suit can only hold so much air, and I can only go so far in just a mobile suit. But at the same time I came across their battle with the aegis and that zaft vessel and felt the need to help out. After all while celestial being may see both sides as the enemy and I find this war to be an idiotic war with genocidal undertones I still feel that if I can save lives I should do it." He said with a sigh of sorrow.

"This war is stupid…and in case you can't see it you should know it's heading towards genocide on either side. The radicals and supremacists are gathering power in both camps…before you know it it'll be either the world is left to the coordinators or the naturals will have eliminated the "infestation of abominations known as coordinators" seriously…this war is basically a pissing match started likely by two men fighting over something stupid." He said as he glanced to his own cell bars.

"The bloody valentine event didn't help at all…but neither did the n-jammers. Yes they neutralized the use of any nuclear weapons…but they also had an effect similar to what the alliance likely planned. "He stated as he had a feeling Nicol was beginning to focus more on his piloting skills and background. He needed him to feel like he was emotionally invested in the war.

Nicol perked up when he could have sworn Noah had just insinuated that his homeland was no better than the alliance in terms of tactics. "And just what does that mean? We didn't destroy an entire city or kill nearly 250 thousand people! We launched them in order protect ourselves!" he declared as he was beginning to dislike this pilot.

Noah outright laughed. "And what did zaft do about the fact it killed nuclear power? Killing thousands purely due to starvation and the fact so much of their life style revolved around nuclear power! Back in the 20th and 21st century the united states intervened in many conflicts and caused plenty of destruction in a similar manner but even in the middle of war, once they cleared an area they brought in teachers to help restart schools, building crews to help rebuild what they had destroyed….they helped rebuild and fix what they broke. What has zaft done? Only looked out for themselves. They have sent no aide to civilian areas affected by the N-jammer drop. They even almost prey on towns they took over to the point that some towns became even worse off than with just the N-jammers in effect. You call yourselves better then the earth alliance? They may refuse to come to the discussion table anymore….but zaft is slowly becoming corrupted by radicals and only making matters worse." he said as he let off a small rant on his personal feelings about the war. In truth it was how he saw the war in gundam seed. The whole war was a genocidal pissing match from the moment that nuke was let loose on junius seven. All he cared about was making sure the archangel had a slightly smoother ride this time around.

Nicol had to blink at that. He had a point. While Nicol loved his home, and he'd die for it if needed. He had heard about the alliance refusing to try and negotiate peace, likely a tactic of the known anti coordinator hate group known as blue cosmos. It was also well known that this group felt coordinators were an infestation, hell an affront to god and needed to be purged. Hence why part of the alliance went so overboard as to launch a nuclear weapon at a civilian colony.

"Junius seven had no strategic value military wise. But if I recall it was an agricultural colony. Think if they had more nukes on them what would they have done? What would YOUR PEOPLE have done if they were forced to starve while you built new colonies designed to grow food? With the N-jammers you stopped that from happening but how is starving people due to lack of power and resources thanks to that counter measure any better when that population being starved are civilians? "Asked Noah. Boom….he knew by Nicols silence he had hit home.

Nicol sighed and closed his eyes as he hung his head. "Your right…but why bring this up to me? If you're so convinced that if people just talk they will end the war why not use your mobile suit to try and…"Nicol stopped there. That had been celestial beings goal the entire time. "I see…and without the rest of your machines it'd be just you against the world." He stated as he rested his head on the wall. Now he understood everything Noah was saying. By being more powerful than either sides of the war they would become a bigger target and eventually force the alliance and zaft to work together and try to make peace in order to bring them down. It was essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy of self-destruction but still…it was brilliant and subtle at the same time.

Noah nodded. "Now you see what all I'm saying. Now…Nicol…I'd like to make an offer to you." he stated with a smirk as he closed his eyes. And time to set the hook.

"**I want you to join celestial being."**

**Blades of dreams**

**Ok then…so that's chapter three. So in my last ending note I mentioned plans for Nicol and the blitz. Now you see them. Some of you may not like this idea, others may wonder why pick Nicol when Dearka already ends up helping them and I can just bring him into the fold sooner? Or maybe what's to stop Nicol from joining him for protection from alliance and blue cosmos interrogation and then ditching at the first chance he has to go spill what all he found out on the archangel? Well I intend to have that all explained in the next chapter.**

**Next order of business….yes…Noah is in seed. Even off the archangel he can't open his cockpit to come back to reality. He is literally in an entirely alternate universe and due to the changes he's made has made it his own little world. He is part of it. Whether he's there or not. He could continue till the end of the war, settle down in orb, get a job, maybe even a girlfriend…then one day open his front door only to exit the simulator cockpit and life would go on there without him…as if he just vanished. His mail would pile up, girlfriend would grieve him then dump him…you get the idea. **

**Of course due to the first chapter giving me ideas for future chapters I won't be changing his exit of the cockpit from how nemesis wrote it just yet. Also this obviously means that zaft and the alliance will have to make something to counter his machine…that or get more cannon fodder to hold him off till their aces arrive. I have two machines planned for zaft, one is simply a prototype that will make an early entrance to the war while the other is a custom machine I'm working up. Still undecided for certain which will make it in but the battle with watlfeld will be its debut. **

**The alliance…still working on that. Anyways I also promised a load out for the EX-caliber in chapter three…so…here it is.**

**EX-calibers full arsenal:**

**GN sword 3/amazing GN sword: a custom take on both the amazing GN sword and the GN sword three, fusing them to include the GN sword 3's GN repeater. It also has the amazing GN swords GN Vulcan/beam saber emitter in its built in shield and the shield itself is slightly larger due to also containing an additional targeting lens which hides these and folds back to allow them to fire. This is Noah's primary armament and defense unless his opponent knows of his left arm.**

**GN repeater: a three barreled repeater styled gun that replaces the rifle mode. The barrels surround the GN sword, one on each side and another onto. The top barrel can also be used with the sword active or used to make more medium range shots by diverting all its power to the one barrel for increased output and range.**

**GN Vulcan/beam saber emitter: hidden behind the extra targeting lens for the GN sword 3's GN repeater is an emitter that can either function as a GN Vulcan or generate a beam saber in CQB combat.**

**X2 GN Vulcans: similar to the one mounted in the custom GN sword 3 these are in the wrists. They are low power and are only used by Noah when he is completely out of alternatives.**

**Cloak: not really a weapon per-say but I consider its intended psychological impact to be a weapon due to making the machine seem weak. By the way I have realized on a black suit the scarring wouldn't be visible…but a friend pointed out its just paint. The "scarring" would be more silver due to the metal underneath. So if you are having trouble picturing it….picture the exia repair two just with more damage to the left side rather than the right. **

**Amazing GN shield: another modified recreation of tatsuya's equipment on one of the amazing machines. This is more modified then just fusing it with something though. **

** GN "MAC" gun: The blue bars on the sides of the shield are now black obviously and as stated in chapter one can swing forward and magnetize. From there a single small object, originally a small ball of plastic held within the now hollow shields core is dropped between the rails and launched. **

**GN micro missiles: within the sides of the shield is two lines of five GN micro missiles. These missiles obviously don't do too much damage and are intended more to deter multiple enemies that are too close to the EX-caliber from getting closer or force them back to where he can begin defending himself with his sword again. **

**GN "heat blades": just as both bars can swing forward and become a rail gun, both blades can lock into position at the front sides of the shield to form a sort of twin blade though they can be "heated" at any point in time and on both sides or just one. This is again meant purely for defense as they are not designed to heat to the point of blocking a beam saber though they can cause a good amount of damage to an opponent rushing Noah should he maneuver correctly to intercept them. Again meant simply to deter multiple opponents from getting past CQB range. **

**Special abilities/features: it is capable of entering trans-am. **

**Also while its GN drive is a true drive it produces red particles at all times, and black during trans-am due to special treatment and modifications. In the case of the 00 universe or gunpla battles, one who only knows that green particles are produced by a true GN drive may assume that he has lesser capabilities due to it being a tau drive. This is not the case it is a true GN drive though it is treated so it will produce red GN particles. Another part of its rouse to appear weaker then it is. **

**Intended add ons later on:**

**Beam "vents": recreating the beam sabers on the infinite justice's legs, these emitters will be hidden to appear as extra vents on the legs.**

**00[T] sword bit backpack: modified to hold six swords of equal size rather than seven and conceal a holster for a GN sniper rifle 2 for long range combat. This is to maximize EX-calibers range and increase its defense through the GN shield the swords can make while fighting. *also intended to be put in the story and used to disable to Blitz and allow it's capture though this has been changed as the machine was deemed too powerful by fellow gunpla builders for this early in the seed. These may be added later as I hope I have a plan that differs from the original author to allow Noah to modify EX-caliber as a gunpla once more later in the story.**

**X2 GN sword 2: a second to last measure of defense. While priding himself on keeping most of his tricks hidden, these GN sword 2's are a last chance for him to beat back an enemy before he has to resort to the wrist mounted GN Vulcans. As both weapons are not customized in any way Noah considers these his last resort weapons. Should he get down to these…he usually is fucked….hence why these were not put in the first chapter's mock fight…neither he nor I like the idea of using them unless necessary. * Again intended to be put in the story but I forgot about them while describing the machine in the first two chapters so I'm removing them. These WILL be added later somehow and will be made the GN short and long sword kai. Besides…less armaments on the EX-caliber, the more fun it is to still try and write him a winning fight.**


	4. conviction

**I own nothing in terms of the gundam seed characters or the base model parts of the EX-caliber gundam though its personal design and name are mine. Thank Bandai though for the basics. Also thank nemesis astrea once again for letting me use his basic plot point of the ZERO system. **

_**Face your fears**_

Nicol sat there stunned. He…this pilot…was offering to let him join his organization. He had just met him…and simply discussed the war with him from a morale stand point…and he expected him to join him? Nicol wasn't sure if this man was stupid or just plain crazy.

Noah chuckled. "I'm sure it may come as a surprise to you for me to ask that. But I know more about you then you`d think. Nicol Amalfi, age 14, birth date march 3rd of 53, coordinator. Ranked 3rd generally in most zaft academy classes though top of his class in explosives handling. That's just your general profile. "Said Noah before clearing this throat, closing his eyes to try and make it sound like he was reading from a memorized dossier. "An accomplished piano virtuoso, often caught writing musical pieces for various instruments ranging from just the piano to a full orchestra. He often also is caught wondering how many piano lessons he's missed by joining zaft. Has a promising future as a concert pianist. "He said before pausing for a somewhat dramatic effect.

"Personality is kind and gentle in nature. Holds no ill will towards naturals and simply wishes for the war to end soon. Possible candidacy for recruitment into celestial being…" Noah once again paused to see if he could get a reaction from Nicol. He tried his best to sound like he was reading bits from a dossier…but he wasn't military so he wasn't sure if he was reading it right.

Nicol shifted. The way he ended it it sounded like it was bad. But they had been watching him? They had a dossier…it made him wonder just how deep into zaft they were imbedded. But still what did they expect? How would they have recruited him straight out of zaft academy? And what? Would he have been able to pilot a machine like alpha one? So many questions were racing through his mind as he waited for Noah to finish, like a college applicant waiting for their entrance papers.

With a deep, dramatic inhale Noah finished his sentence, "possible candidacy for celestial being recruitment…recommended and approved." he said with a smirk as he heard Nicol exhale a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. "Nicol you would have been on my team. We had a machine planned similar to the blitz. It was in its infancy, barely even a frame planned but it was still a concept. But had Heliopolis gone right, had both we and the earth alliance gotten to finish our projects, you would have been recruited, trained in your machine, and then assigned to my team." He said before chuckling. "Either way you`d be trying to sink this ship. But you`d likely also end up clashing against the rest of your team." he said with a hint of sorrow in his tone.

"Nicol soon the captain will come through and likely ask me about my plan. When she shows up I need to tell her if she's handing you over to her superiors or if you're joining me. So tell me…can you fight your former comrades? I know you can fight the alliance but can you fight zaft? Can you fight your former team and your kinsmen?" he asked as he glanced at his bars as if trying to look around the wall at Nicol.

Nicol had to take a moment to think about this. On one hand he was being offered potentially a way out of this cell, maybe even a way back into the blitz. Maybe he could sink the legged ship from the inside then go rejoin his team…but…at the same time Noah was making the offer. The pilot of alpha one, of EX-caliber was making the offer. Even repaired the blitz wouldn't stand a chance alone against it. Likely if he accepted it he'd only be allowed near the blitz under supervision or when he was to go into combat…

Then there was the fact he'd be fighting to protect a ship that he'd been trying to shoot down for some time now. He'd be fighting for the earth alliance. Wait…would he? Noah had just mentioned knowing he can shoot down earth alliance machines…."why say you know I can shoot down earth alliance personnel? Aren't you fighting for them?" he asked. He was still confused by the fact this pilot was in the brig and why him and the captain had interacted the way they did. This got a laugh from Noah.

"Kid I told you. I have fought 2 battles for this ship, not even full battles, more like swatting flies away from it. I`m only fighting for THIS SHIP. Not the earth alliance. I and the captain have a bit of a…agreement. I told her I'd pledge my loyalty to this ship, to her command…not the alliance. So if we ever are in a fight against both sides your free to shoot down earth alliance machines still. After all celestial being views both sides as the enemy. But seeing as I can't very well live in my mobile suit and this vessel seemed to have a handicap in my first engagement with it only having the strike to defend it along with the mobeius zero…I felt I should help it out." he said, shrugging and finally moving to stand as he stretched. His pitch was given. All that was left was for Nicol to accept or deny it.

This would be a radical change…maybe it'd break the zero system and the simulation? Hey…he could dream that this change wasn't permanent still right? The moment he could bury himself in the African desert sand was when he'd give up and call this place home.

Nicol heard Noah get up and was still mulling over what he said. He was confused. So he'd likely have to return to this vessel…but…in battle he could fight either side. What would keep him from just wiping out the alliance units that would consider him friendly? What would keep him from acting like a Trojan horse?

Noah cleared his throat one more time as he heard the guard shift to salute, meaning murrue was likely about to join them. "If you do accept don't think you can just slaughter the alliance and leave it at that. Both sides will likely attack you, zaft thinking your machine is being piloted by a natural and after you shoot down a GiNN or two there won't be any going back. The earth alliance won't all have heard about your capture so they will shoot at you thinking you're still an enemy. I'll be watching you as well. Any attempts to return to zaft, I shoot you down. Go easy on the ginns or even do everything you can to avoid them, I shoot you down. You will consider both sides your enemy, no ifs ands, or buts about it. Should you show any signs of going against it and I WILL kill you. No disabling or anything like this last time. My machine can move far faster then you`ve seen it. Before you can blink my sword can shear your cockpit in two. So think carefully if you decide to accept my offer." he stated as murrue walked in a he waved with a grin on his face

_Face your fears._

Murrue floated down the hall towards the brig slowly. She could faintly hear Noah and Nicol talking. She was curious what they were talking about. The closer she got the more she could make out but…it sounded like they were simply discussing the war. Finally she stopped near the door but motioned for the guard to act like she wasn't there. She had to blink when she heard Noah offer Nicol a place in celestial being. Nicol was her prisoner…he was an earth alliance POW…did Noah think he had the clout to get Nicol and the blitz cleared of being handed over to the alliance?

She shook her head and continued to listen. She heard him sound almost like he was reading a dossier on the zaft red. She had to gasp at his age. He was only 14…he really was no older then Kira. And he had given the archangel hell in the blitz. She had to sweat drop mentally at that. A group of teens was giving the earth alliance's most advanced ship more than a run for its money. Granted that was also with four of the cosmic era's most advanced machines at their hands. But still. It made her wonder if Noah had even one other member of his team…just one more machine like his…what would the archangels fate be then? It made one question just how strong was the archangel and it's intended mobile suit compliment in the grand scheme of things.

Finally she heard Noah begin to describe the agreement with her that he had made. Again she sweat dropped mentally when she heard him mention Nicol could shoot down earth alliance personnel and she felt she had to step in. she motioned to the soldier to "notice her" and so he saluted and she moved to enter the brig.

When she did so she heard Noah seem to put his foot down when Nicol seemed to have his own wheels grinding in his head. She chuckled and that seemed to get Nicol on his feet though he quickly took a posture of defiance by turning away from her and crossing his arms. She turned to Noah. "So that's your big plan? Recruit him to your almost non-existent organization?" she asked. She couldn't help but smile a bit at the thought. It meant they got the blitz back and another mobile suit to defend them. But again she heard what he had just said about Nicols and his own intended targets. When the obviously ensuing battle between the 8th lunar fleet and zaft began…they both would be attacking both sides. But it sounded like their ultimate goal though would be to defend this ship. That was a bonus right? At least EX-calibers blade wouldn't be aimed at them.

_Face your fears._

Noah had to admit murrue's timing was both perfect and horrible. He had yet to get an answer from Nicol as to if he'd accept the invitation to join celestial being or not…but he was also starving and yes or no from Nicol he likely would he getting out of his cell in a moment so perhaps he could eat before he was forced to fight once again. Well not forced to fight…more before he had to go play goalie keep away with yzak when it came to targeting the shuttle as well as facing rau le creuset. He'd hold trans-am till the last second but he knew he'd be revealing that here.

When murrue asked him if recruiting Nicol was his big plan he had to grin. She seemed to already taken a liking to him. That was either good…or bad. He wasn't sure. Maybe she was just trying to stay on his good side so he'd keep fighting for them? He decided not to think on it. "Yep. I mean why not? He seems like a good kid, and my organization was already contemplating it." He said as he looked to murrue though the bars of his cell.

He smirked when murrue closed her eyes and nodded. " true…but he still has been attacking us for nearly 2 months now…he stole the blitz, attacked a neutral colony…in truth there's enough charges just during the attack on Heliopolis that with him in our custody there's no way in hell I should let you just whisk him away. I assume you`ll want the blitz as well?" she asked, glancing to Nicols cell to watch the young coordinators reaction. Noah couldn't figure out if it was the zero system having her get into his head or if she respected him enough already to trust him.

Noah nodded either way. "Yes…I'd like to borrow the blitz. Until we can get him a true mobile suit of celestial being caliber." He knew he was coming off as an arrogant SOB but he also knew murrue was still considering even letting him out. He was on thin ice and needed to be careful.

Murrue sighed. She couldn't believe what she was about to say. With the fleet taking them in she was no longer the ranking officer on a matter like this. She could face serious consequences for releasing not only a POW but giving him back the blitz…their machine, a machine that could easily destroy their ship from the inside if Nicol got to it with no one watching him

"Can you keep him under control?" she asked as she looked Noah in the eyes. She had to see his eyes when he responded. The moment she let him or Nicol out of their cell without a guard escort or an admirals approval she was walking a fine line.

Noah looked her in the eyes and his eyes narrowed. He knew the real meaning behind that question. She was worried he'd leave again and take Nicol and the blitz with him this time. Worried he'd actually turn on the ship, worried...just worried about 100 different things and he knew the least of which was her potential court martial if things went south over this decision with the admirals.

He took a deep breath and sighed. "to be honest…on the ship…till he realizes he has no-where else to go…no…I can't promise you he won't try to sabotage things on the ship, or even take out specific personnel." he stated. From the shifting he heard in Nicols cell he figured Nicol felt stabbed in the back and worried he would be stuck in his cell.

"But when we are in mobile suits I can control him. I can control him with a simple statement." he said as he knocked on his cell wall. "you agree to join celestial being and pilot the blitz to defend this ship…one wrong move, do one thing I said earlier and I'll kill you." he stated loudly so Nicol would know he should respond.

Murrue turned to the zaft reds cell and waited.

_Face your fears_

Nicol sighed as he realized he was being put on the spot. When he heard the captain ask if he could be controlled he got slightly upset. Controlled? Him? Yeah he was currently an enemy…and yes if given free reign he COULD attack "certain" personnel and sabotage various parts of the ship. But to use the term control?

Then he heard Noah's reminder of his penalty were he essentially to agree to defect from zaft…then defect from celestial being…or go easy on the zaft military. Noah was serious. He'd kill him if his hands even twitched on the controls of the blitz to aim his weapons at this ship, likely the strike or that orange mobile armor. He'd also kill him if he tried to flee or went easy on any of his former teammates and kinsmen…technically neither option left him in a good position IMMEDIATELY but to defect meant the moment he cut down a blitz or destroyed a zaft vessel. Even if he took out twice as many earth alliance vessels and mobile armors he'd still be branded a traitor the moment his own people blood was on his hands.

Nicol's stance softened slightly as he thought out every scenario. The more he thought of ways to twist this to where he could MAYBE sink the legged ship the less ways he found for him to survive. One the hand of denying the offer there was either life in prison as a POW or likely execution after long, painful torture even if he was meant to be put away…after all he had no illusion that the rest of the earth alliance was as…well as kind as this captain was being. Simply put that option left him dead no matter how you slice it…well maybe a…less than 1% chance he was important enough to be traded for given his parents positions on the supreme council or that he was important enough to warrant a rescue mission.

But if he joined Noah he had a strong chance for survival, even as a prisoner he'd at least be alive. But he'd be labeled a traitor…and if he tried to go back in any way, tried not to engage the soldiers he'd have formerly fought alongside Noah would kill him.

Finally Nicol sighed and turned around. "Fine…I'll join your organization on two conditions." he stated which got Noah to bust out laughing and a smile and a chuckle from the captain. He was slightly confused. Were they laughing at the fact he had conditions? Or was this offer one giant fuck you and a scheme between them.

_Face your fears_

Murrue brought a hand to her mouth as she tried not to laugh like Noah was when the zaft red had stated he had conditions for joining Noah's group. Did he really not understand his position? Did he not realize he had no bargaining power? Noah's machine plus…she stopped that line of thought. She suddenly bit her lip. Maybe he did have some bargaining power. After all Kira and his friends would likely be departing with the refugee shuttle…they'd lose the strike as a defense. Maybe Noah could somehow get the strike set up for Mu? Wait…they were about to descend to earth and go to josh-a base…would Noah really risk his machines secrets getting out and stay aboard even after this battle? And why recruit Nicol and borrow the blitz for this one battle when again if Nicol is onboard when they land he'd be taken into custody, at that point even Noah could be taken into custody for his involvement with a top secret alliance project and yet he wasn't part of the alliance.

Murrue began to feel a headache like her first chat with him coming on and just decided to listen and not think too hard on Noah. Clearly somewhere in-between his BS and what little of his story was true was a gray area where he simply knew more than he was letting on.

Noah finally stopped laughing in the meantime and wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh god...you seriously think you can make conditions? It's a yes or no question. Once we clear the impending meeting with the admiralty of this fleet then we can talk contract terms if you really must have certain things." he said as he braced himself on his cell bars while he caught his breath

When Nicol heard Noah speak he understood why he laughed. The offer was serious, but he was merely trying to figure out if the captain would need to fight for him to be essentially released from alliance custody. But would Noah agree to his conditions was his next question. He sighed once again. "If it potentially keeps me from being interrogated…then yes I'll join your organization." he said which got a snap from Noah. Had he been hoping he'd say no? Nicol was so confused he had to sit on his bed before laying down. Now he played the waiting game.

Now it was murrue's turn to sigh as she waved the soldier into the hall. She pointed to Noah. "Let Mister Carson out. You better not make me regret this." she stated as the soldier unlocked Noah's cell door and he walked out. He just gave her a classic two finger salute. "Don't worry ma'am…I'm here to stay this time. Now if you`ll excuse me I'm starving." he said before leaving the brig to rush to the mess hall. Maybe he could catch Kira's friends while they discussed leaving or not. God knows the last thing he needed was them to jump ship, especially Kira. If Kira didn't stay…then he may have just fucked himself by saving Nicol NOW rather than later and using earth's gravity to his advantage

Murrue watched Noah leave and had to wonder if she made the right choice. She had just let him talk his way out of a cell…again…and he'd get to get in his mobile suit…again. But what could she do? Kira was still a wreck in a fight if he did pilot the strike one more time, and Mu would just add to the number of mobile armors in the fray. While throwing Noah into the mix and now one Nicol Amalfi would add to the body count on both sides it still meant zaft would have two more advanced mobile suits to deal with and would slow their advance. It may even save some of the 8th fleet. For now though she headed to the bridge to get everyone settled and make preparations for admiral halberton's arrival as well as find a way to get the refugees a way home.

_Face your fears_

Commander Rau le creuset watched out a view port alongside his protégé, athrun zala, as a shuttle carrying Mrs. Lacus Clyne flew off towards the Laurasia class vessel which was home for the lacooney team. He was thinking back to her parting words for athrun, asking him what they should be fighting. He of course had his own schemes to worry about and felt the girl was simply too much of an idealist for her own good…or athruns. He couldn't let her get into his head lest he begin to sympathize with the pilot of the strike and be even less effective against it. He was already clearly holding back quite a bit for some reason. "What should one be fighting athrun?" he asked as he turned the face to raven haired zaft red.

Athrun turned to face him and had a look of contemplation on his face. The fact he even had to think on it made him question his faith in the young pilot. He should have had an answer immediately. The question was rather vague and philosophical but if he truly had the conviction he knew yzak had he'd have had an answer immediately. Dearka had conviction though he also seemed to mainly be in the military for the status factor and even more so as a red ace pilot he was sure it got him more than a few looks from women…something the buster's pilot clearly enjoyed.

"Did you hear about yzak?" he asked simply. That got a look of both concern and curiosity from zala. "It was the strike…"he said, letting that fact hang there. "And Nicol…did you hear about his capture?" he asked. That got a reaction from the ace pilot. "It was alpha one. It seems our mystery enemy is not as handicapped as we thought. As horrible as it sounds Nicols capture did give us something…knowledge." he said as he looked for more reaction from the pilot. The fact he was brushing Nicols capture and likely imminent death aside like it was unimportant seemed to infuriate the red. One perk of being a commander…athrun couldn't unleash the rant he likely had going on in his head right now.

"Yes sir. We now know what's under its cloth. Though that may also drive him to use it more. Which may also bring it to reveal any other hidden weapons or defensive abilities it has." Her stated, though it was through clenched teeth as he tried not to show his anger. Poor boy…like Nicol he wore his heart on his sleeve.

Rau nodded. "This is true. But regarding the strike athrun…why have you not shot it down? You and Nicol regularly teamed up against it…Nicols machine had the disadvantage of being a stealth unit…but you…the strike should either be ours by now or destroyed…"he stated calmly. Athrun visibly calmed and almost seemed to become sad as he floated away from the boy he turned to him and asked, "which will it be athrun…will you shoot it down or will you be shot down?" he then proceeded to leave the boy with that food for thought.

_Face your fears._

Flay stood amongst the refugees staring at a screen which showed the _Agamemnon_ class carrier- _Menelaus _that they would all be being transferred too. Of course her father was off trying to arrange her and said to be with him on a more formal shuttle that would take them straight to earth. She had to admit she had become attached to this ship….well maybe not attached but…she couldn't explain it. She didn't want to leave…and it felt weird to her. Like she'd be leaving something unfinished. But what? She couldn't get her out of her head that she had been here before…and it made her heart heavy. Made her want to cry.

She gripped her arms over her chest and just looked at the monitor, past the carrier, out into space. What could she do here though? She hadn't volunteered to work the bridge or anything like the others. As she tried to think of what to do she thought to the mystery man, Noah Carson. His name floated amongst the refugees now and then, like he was a guardian angel similar to Kira.

Kira…when she tried to think of this déjà vu and him she felt…a fiery rage…a hateful rage…but also a manipulative rage. This quickly transitioned to a blush as she felt herself get a bit warm in a certain area and again these feelings she felt with the warmth…they confused her. It was like her body was flooded with so many emotions that it couldn't decide what she should do or think.

Finally she turned and made her way through the crowd and walked with a purpose. Screw her father's position, screw the countless amenities she had waiting for her. The wedding to plan…hell screw Sai! She never really loved him anyways…and this warmth she felt when she thought of Kira…after that rage. She had to admit it reminded her of that childish saying of hating someone is the same as loving someone. She WOULD figure this all out, she'd stop these stupid feelings, and she'd figure out what Kira and Noah had to do with all this. Even if her father disagreed.

Flay allster was off the volunteer for the military. She'd even join Noah's group if she had to…SHE WAS STAYING ON THIS SHIP DAMN IT!

_Face your fears_

Kira popped out from inside the cockpit of the mobeius zero. He had just realized he was in a mobile armor helping with repairs….and yet they had linked up with the fleet. Besides as soon as he left the ship he was a civilian again…why bother helping with this?

"We already linked up with the fleet, why are we rushing repairs? I mean even the blitz has mechanics working double time to repair It." he said. He had watched from the strikes gangplank when they got the pilot out of the blitz. He was a kid…like him and athrun. He had then remembered the blitz was part of athruns team. He wanted to go talk to the pilot, get to know him, ask about athrun and life in the plants. But he then remembered the pilot was an enemy, and not only that a prisoner. He likely couldn't talk to him anyways.

Lt Commander la flaga turned to him from where he was "laying" above his mobile armor. "Well maybe I don't feel secure while it's damaged." he stated with an annoyed tone before turning to the stealth G-weapon. "And the blitz…I don't know why it is being repaired. I mean we have no pilot for it and they are just gonna tear it apart at JOSH-A anyways." he said before turning back to Kira.

At that point the head mechanic Murdoch decided to put in his two cents. "We were told to repair it by the captain. Appears Noah managed to turn the pilot to his side. From what I hear it's not exactly any better for the earth forces but at least he's under strict orders to protect us." he stated as he looked over to his team. "Plus the pilots that`ll be joining us are all still green. If things go south we may need to sortie the commander." he then looked the mobile armor over once more. "Besides on a military vessel it's better to have working, ready for action mobile armors then to have this thing have repaired and suddenly he has to sortie with a busted machine." The burly mechanic called out to the two. He glanced over to EX-caliber though and wondered if he'd ever get to work on that machine. He had to admit. While he was surprised even he had been fooled initially by the custom damage he had actually been looking forward to trying to repair its arm, maybe get a peek at the tech inside it. But at this rate he probably wouldn't even get to shine to things fancy engine cone thing let alone crack open the armor plating.

Kira looked over at the deactived strike almost hiding behind the black and red machine of death. "But what about the strike? Wouldn't it be better if I tried to fix the OS to work for commander la flaga? Or just reset it back to the original OS?" he asked though his tone stated he was almost worried of what may become of the 17 meter tall war machine.

Mu seemed to back away slightly at the prospect of piloting the gundam. "I don't know if restoring it to its original state is a good idea as it`ll lower its overall performance." he said as he joined Kira in looking to the machine that had defended the ship countless times already. He had to admit next to the EX-caliber it seemed almost worn out, tired, like the dull gray that is was colored currently was a sign that the prototype was ready to pass the torch of defending the ship on to the black and red monster.

"Then let's hope Nicol takes a liking to the suit instead of the blitz." called out murrue as she floated up to the group of males. She noticed Mu and Murdoch give her a questioning look when she referred to the former zaft red by his first name.

"Captain, to what do we owe the pleasure? And am I to assume we have a defector on this ship?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow. Kira however now seemed confused, "defector?"

Mu nodded. "yeah…I figured when Noah told me he had plans for the blitz' pilot he meant he was going to get him to defect. Am I to assume it's why the blitz is being repaired as if the strike and my mobeius zero were scrap metal and the EX-caliber had run off again?" he asked as he looked to the captain.

She lightly nodded. "He did though I think he less defected and more chose the option which gave him a stronger chance of survival. He also didn't defect to the alliance." she said. Mu and Murdoch gasped.

"Then who did he join if he left zaft?" asked Kira.

"Celestial being. Noah's ghost organization. Though he claims to be only borrowing the blitz. Somehow he intends to get Nicol a "mobile suit of celestial being caliber" though I'm not sure how he will do that." she said, shrugging before looking to Kira. "Though I also came out here because I'd like to have a small chat with ensign yamato." she stated. This got a suspicious look from Kira. She smiled. "Don't give me that look. It's just a small chat." She said before taking the boys arm and floating away with him towards the strike.

_Face your fears_

Almost an hour later Noah stood beside Nicol, who now wore a blue ensign's uniform…for now. Noah had plans to make them both, and maybe the entire ship eventually, celestial being uniforms once they reached orb. They`d have a month there if things go anywhere close as they did before…and Noah may see to it that they take a TINY bit more damage, just so he can explore his future home more…again that's if him an EX-caliber make it to Africa.

But for now they both stood alongside Kira and his friends. The small group seemed nervous around Nicol but it was to be expected. They were also in the port side hangar, so at least the blitz wasn't around so he didn't need an armed escort. Noah gave Murrue his word he'd keep Nicol in line and told her if he did anything she or any guards were free to shoot him…anywhere, even kill shots. Just him reinforcing to Nicol it was play along and hopefully just assimilate given time or die…or rot in prison.

Noah himself was wearing his hoodie and jeans, essentially the outfit he originally showed up in. Nicol only wore the ensign uniform to keep the admirals guards from turning this into a hostile situation from seeing his zaft red flight suit. Noah himself didn't really care what the admiral thought…after all the knowledge he was going to barter Nicols "transfer" with gave him more than enough bargaining power.

As the admiral came out and greeted murrue he listened partially, wanting to hear any changes from the original greeting. He noticed the admiral look past the officers and at Noah and Nicol. He guessed he just heard about them especially given his aids hand almost shot to his side arm.

_Face your fears_

Murrue had to take a deep breath when admiral halberton mentioned their recent battle. He even mentioned reports of seeing a red…well as he stated a comet flying towards their ship before disappearing and supposedly ending up as EX-caliber.

"…I do hope everyone is alright." he said as he looked to the three other ranking officers. The raven haired woman stepped forward. "Ensign Natarle badgiruel sir!" she announced before saluting. The blond haired man next to her then stepped forward. "Lieutenant Mu la flaga of the seventh orbital fleet!" he stated. That got halberton's attention. "Ah I see. We were fortunate to have you alongside this vessel." he said, shaking Mu's hand.

The ace pilot sighed. "I just wish I could have been more help."

Halberton nodded. "Son what you did for both the earth alliance as well as this vessel I personally thank you." He stated before catching a glimpse of green hair. He turned to Murrue. "excuse me captain but who if the young man with green hair?" he asked as he looked to the group of teenagers along with the older blonde gentlemen who clearly misunderstood what it was to stand amongst military personnel, even more so in the presence of an admiral.

Murrue cringed when he mentioned Nicols green hair. "He's um…his name is Nicol Amalfi…he's the…former zaft pilot who stole the G-weapon named the blitz sir." She said. The moment she mentioned he was zaft the entirety of the admirals group reached for their weapons aside from the admiral who raised his hand to keep them from drawing their weapons.

He slowly drifted to Nicol and stopped in front of him. He looked the coordinator in the eyes, not exactly judgingly but with curiosity. "Now why are you here Mr. Amalfi? Why are you not in the brig? "He asked, not accusingly, his tone held sincere curiosity.

Nicol glanced at the admiral with confusion. He had stopped them from drawing guns…he wasn't even angry, or he didn't show that he was, by his presence. Just how different was the earth alliance compared to what they were trained to believe? "I agreed to defect from zaft and join celestial being and to pilot the blitz in defense of this ship." He said. This raised halberton's eyebrow.

"Defend this ship? Joined celestial being? Hmm…I'm sure I'll hear about this in the officer's reports. But I am also curious…why defect?" he asked. He didn't get an answer, instead he got the boy to look to the blonde gentlemen wearing a hoodie. "And you are?" he asked. He was only on this vessel for a few minutes…and he already couldn't count the reg violations, laws broken, protocols…all the various rule types broken just by these twos presence.

Noah looked into the admirals eyes. "My name is Noah Carson, I am a gundam meister for celestial being, an organization intent on ending war through armed interventions. Sadly though me, and now Nicol, are the only remaining members. The rest died at Heliopolis as well as the rest of our mobile weapons project." he said as he hoped it was enough for the admiral.

"Gundam meister hm? Let me guess…you're the pilot of the machine I read about in a few reports. So I take it you intend to stay as well and defend this ship? Do you intend to integrate into the earth alliance as well?" he asked. Noah simply smirked. "Well I'm sorry for the loss of your people Mr. Carson…"

"It's best we discuss this later, Lt Ramius has informed me I am to join her command staff for the debrief. Suffice to say if my machine had an infinite supply of air and water this ship would not be here right now." he stated. He made sure to underline this with a tone of it coming off as a threat.

Admiral Halberton stared down the young man. Had he just threatened this ship? Or insinuated that had he not needed the services of this ship he would have destroyed it? Just who was this young man?

Halberton decided to not question it and moved onto the group of children behind them. "And who do we have here?" he asked as he approached the group of students.

"Those are the students from Heliopolis sir. They have been helping us handle the brig given our less than skeleton crew amount of staff." Murrue stated as she floated over. Just as she got there his aid floated over and reminded him they did not have much time to do a meet and greet. "I apologize but I have to make this quick. On behalf of the 8th lunar fleet I'd like to thank you all for your help, I'd also like to extend my own personal thanks for helping this vessel get as far as it has." He then saluted to them and floated off along with his aid and the command staff.

Noah turned to Kira. "Hey Kira you think you can show Nicol to the mess? I`m sure he's hungry and at this point he realizes he makes any sudden moves he's screwed so you should be fine. Right Nicol? "he asked, glancing to his new subordinate. The green haired coordinator glared at him but nodded. "Yes…I'll behave….and I am hungry. "He said as he looked to Kira.

"Besides…you're both coordinators. So no one has an edge over the other and really Nicol you have no reason to kill him…and it doesn't help he still, at this moment, is the pilot of the strike…remember what I said." Noah reminded Nicol before pushing off the follow the command staff.

_Face your fears_

Rau le creuset looked over the tactical map. He was planning a strategy while also rethinking the past 2 months and how everything has happened. His plan was going well, the fact he did not capture the strike or sink the legged ship didn't help but he liked the chase it gave. Then alpha one showed up and he has been having to think around the mystery machine ever since. He turned to check on the bridge staff and their current status.

"The_ Ziegler_ and the _Gamow _have joined up with us." Said his captain as he floated over to stand behind his chair.

"Any sign of alpha one or the fleet taking notice of us? "He asked as he looked at the screen above for the current status of the enemy fleet.

The man shook his head. "No, it seems they have taken up a low orbit though. I`d assume they are doing this while they make rapid repairs to the heavily damaged escort ship as well as repairing and resupplying the legged ship." The captain stated as he noticed the commander move back to the tactical board. He pushed out of his chair and floated over.

"Originally I thought the legged ship was destined for their lunar base. Though with the appearance of alpha one as well as their current position I believe they intend to drop to earth. On their current course they will descend down to Alaska. I would assume they plan to deliver the data on the prototypes, both the strike and the blitz along with the legged ship itself. And with alpha one I'm sure they want its data even more." He stated as he looked over their tactical map once again.

The captain knew the look on rau le creuset's face. He had a plan formulating. "I'd like to eliminate the legged ship before it can escape to earth, while we still have an advantage. What do you say? Feel like playing battleship? "he asked with a chuckle at the pun.

The captain smirked. "Well the Ziegler has 6 ginns, we have five machines including the aegis…aaand the Gamow can launch the buster. If we had the blitz as well we would be at a slightly stronger advantage. "He said though the blonde commander waved him off. "While yes it is a prototype and its mirage colloid has proven useful, in this setting it would be no better than a GiNN with advanced armor and weapons. The amount of flack alone will eliminate its one advantage. But still that armor would allow it to get close to ships to eliminate them. "he said before glancing at a specific battle group within the fleet.

"The infamous halberton…it's time the admiral was removed from the game." He stated quietly as he continued to plan the attack. He turned to the captain though with one last command. "Get as many vessels from the surrounding area to join us as well. As much as I hate to treat them like cannon fodder…the more ginns we throw at alpha one the less it can hamper our attempt to bring down the legged ship." he stated. He lied…the green GiNN pilots were a mix of actual green pilots and some veterans…but he was more than happy to throw them at the mystery suit if it meant he could learn more.

_Face your fears._

Halberton's aid was confused and saddened. "to go to such lengths as using weaponry meant for assaulting a fortress within a colony as well as destroying artemis…all for one ship and a single mobile suit?" he asked with a sigh.

Halberton held his hand up. "That's not the concern right now. We should simply be grateful that Lt. Ramius and her crew were able to keep the ship intact and get it to us as soon as they could. They did the best they could and we need to remember that." He stated.

"However the appearance of this…EX-caliber…"he said, glancing towards Noah, "and it's re-capture of the blitz can be counted as a victory for the alliance. After all it's one less machine in their arsenal. There's also the fact that he saved vice foreign minister allster. The alliance itself owes him him a debt of gratitude." Said halberton to which Noah nodded and stayed silent.

The aid however seemed to wish to touch a specific subject, and the way he phrased it made Noah clench his fists. "sadly Alaska doesn't see things as victorious as we do…and I'm not sure how they will react to Lt Ramius' allowing such a HVT POW not only out of the brig, but then to allow him to leave her custody to an unknown third party."

Again halberton raised his hand to silence him. "Those big wigs at Alaska barely know what ground combat is anymore let alone the first thing about space combat. Lt Ramius has followed my line of thinking as she always has. As far as I'm concerned she has done nothing wrong in this matter, especially when the man she handed the defector over to is already owed such a debt of gratitude I think we can let this slide." he stated. This seemed to upset both his aid though Noah was glad he didn't seem to be needing to use his intended leverage to get him to let him have Nicol.

"as long as Mr. Amalfi and the blitz are defending this ship I will personally back the decision to let Noah recruit him to his organization as an act of gratitude for his assistance in protecting this ship and saving the vice minister." Said the admiral as he nodded to Noah who nodded in thanks back to him.

"Ok then…there is still the matter of the young coordinator boy, Kira yamato, we can't very well forget him now can we?" he said. His tone once again made Noah wish to deck him. If there was anyone clearly part of blue cosmos in this room…it was him…the way he spoke about Kira…it made Noah wish he could beat the shit out of him.

Murrue sighed. "With all due respect Kira is a kind and gentle young man. I pulled him into the strike due to the fact during the attack he was in the harbor district where we were moving the G-weapons and had lead him to the strike with the intent to save it. During that time I was shot by the pilot of the aegis and could barely pilot the strike with its OS as it was let alone with an injured shoulder. During an engagement with a GiNN Kira noticed his friends on a monitor and managed to react to an attack that would have caused the strike to fall on his friends. Ever since we switched spots after that he has piloted the strike solely to protect his friends and in extension this ship." murrue took a breath, realizing she had essentially made it sound like Kira HAPPENED to be there and she had forced him into the strike…which she had but at the time it was that or have both of them die. If she had to make the choice over again she'd do the same thing in a heartbeat.

She took a deep breath before continuing. "it is my belief that due to the stress as a civilian piloting the strike and fighting against his own people…no that's not right, piloting the strike and being FORCED to become a soldier has put on him and how he has not once let us down we should let him go with his friends to orb if he chooses as an act of gratitude for all he has done." she said. This got a smile from both admiral halberton and Noah, though both the aid and natarle were scowling.

"But what about the fact he has knowledge of a top secret military project? If we let him go now who knows if…" the aid didn't get to finish his sentence as Noah slammed his fist down on the desk.

"AND WHAT IF YOU LET HIM GO? HUH? HE'S A CIVLIAN, AND EVEN MORE SO HE'S JUST A KID YA JACKASS! YOUR REALLY GONNA ARGUE ABOUT A KID…A KID! HAVING TOP SECRET MILITARY KNOWLEDGE? WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A KID WHO WOULD SOONER BECOME A COMPLETE AND UTTER DICK LIKE YOURSELF THEN MAKE A STUPID MISTAKE LIKE SELLING MILITARY SECRETS! SERIOUSLY…IF YOU WANNA CONCOCT ANY PLANS TO STOP HIM FROM LEAVING GO AHEAD…BUT IF KIRA ULTIMATELY IS KEPT HERE BY FORCE…"he paused there for a bit of dramatic effect so the aid felt his full intent in his words. "I will self-destruct my GN drive in the middle of the hangar, effectively setting off an EMP with enough power to FRY. EVERY. ELECTICAL. CIRCUIT. ON THIS SHIP. It will fry the strike, it`ll fry the blitz, the mobeius zero. This entire project will be nothing more than a perfectly intact floating piece of wreckage. "Said Noah, clearly surprising everyone in the room. If there was one thing Noah hated…it was racism.

He turned to leave the room and stopped. "oh…and next time you want to be a racist dick…have the balls to actually say the fact your being a racist dick and that you hate coordinators or whatever and then state your nasty plans. My apologies admiral for this outburst…but I'm going to get something to drink. If you need me I'll be working on EX-caliber." Noah said before leaving.

Everyone in the room was surprised by his outburst though to Mu and Ramius it explained his comments about this war being stupid.

Natarle decided to speak up at this point. "Um…that…outburst aside. I feel it can't be denied the boy has natural talent as a pilot for the G-weapons. He also has intimate knowledge of the secrets of the G-weapons. I feel he would be a great asset to the military if we could convince him to volunteer." she said, stopping to get the admirals reaction.

"Oh? And what secrets are these? Zaft previously had four of the G-weapons and now we have a new pilot for the blitz or the strike. I see no secrets to hide or a reason to force him to volunteer when he clearly has no intention of joining." He stated, contemplating just what natarle was getting at.

"Sir there is also the factor that Kira was able to re-write the OS for the strike in under 3 minutes, under combat conditions as well as almost instantly was able to pilot it. We could use him to write a natural usable OS and teach a new pilot for the strike or even have him continue to pilot it given the lack of trained pilots. His parents are naturals who survived the colony collapse. If we could somehow use them…" natarle jumped when she was interrupted by halberton slamming his fist down this time.

"That is enough ensign. I will hear no more of this talk. I for one agree with Mr. Carson and Lt Ramius. That line of thinking is something blue cosmos or lesser admirals may use but I for one will not condone it. If Kira yamato wishes to leave and end his career as a MS pilot then me for one will be the first to shake his hand, thank him for his service, and see him off to whatever adventure he chooses next." Said admiral halberton to which natarle apologizes profusely for her actions before allowing them to continue.

_Face your fears._

Kira was looking into the eyes of the strike. Its dim yellow eyes seemed weary and tired. Or perhaps that was his own mind. He thought back to how this all began and wondered what he would have done if murrue hadn't pushed him into the strike. When He looked into the machines eyes though…he couldn't help but feel a connection between him and the machine.

"It's a hard thing to shake isn't it?" called out a familiar voice. Kira turned to see Noah floating up beside him.

"What do you mean?" asked Kira, not understanding what the far more experienced pilot meant.

"You feel a connection. Like the machine just won't be the same without you at its helm….hell like you won't be the same without your hands around the control sticks." said Noah before turning to look at his own machine.

"Yes…no…I…I'm not sure. I just…leaving it here…it just doesn't feel right." Said Kira as he looked to the head taller black and red machine.

"Been meaning to have a heart to heart with you about piloting. It's like nothing else. Mobile suits have the power to kill…obviously…but they can also create." Said Noah, recalling diorama's of gunpla he'd seen of GM's holding up a crumbling wall even after they had rusted and become unusable as more then that walls repair…appearance wise. Or a busted zaku set in stone under a bridge. It's last act being to hold it up and together.

Kira gave him an odd look and Noah realized he had said the wrong thing. He chuckled. "Never mind, I forgot the ones helping to create things were in my dreams." He said as he pulled Kira down and opened the strikes cockpit.

"Let me put it this way, a friend helped me put piloting the EX-caliber in perspective with it. Just a simple statement." He cleared his throat before continuing.

"There's a mystical bond between man and machine. But the man doesn't pick his machine, be it car, a plane, or a gundam….the machine picks the man." He said before gently shoving Kira into the strike. "And of all the MS pilots I know. Not once, even when the machine was just on paper or a 3d model, have I ever NOT see a mobile suit pick its pilot." He stated before floating to the side towards his machine.

"food for thought Kira!" he shouted as he pushed off his machine to check on Nicol who was tuning the blitz, alliance guards standing outside the cockpit with a mechanic holding a remote shut down mechanism now installed in the blitz.

Kira sat down in the cock pit and looked around. The screens were blank, dials were dark, and the machine was shut down. Yet he could almost feel it calling him. He put his hands on the control sticks…and everything seemed right. But…he couldn't abandon his friends…but if he piloted the strike, with Noah and Nicol at his side, Maybe he could still protect them…by trying to end this war sooner rather than later?

Kira closed his eyes and sighed. He shook his head, "I'm not a mobile suit pilot…and I don't want to keep fighting…"he whispered. Finally he climbed back out of the war machine and closed the hatch. He then glanced over to Noah who seemed to be arguing with Nicol about something. He smiled. He didn't need to fight when people like them would be defending this ship. Besides…he needed to go with his friends.

_Face your fears_

The Sai and his fellow tech students looked at the papers natarle had just handed them. He held his up and asked, "Discharge papers? But…when did we join the military?" he asked as he looked to the admirals aid.

"While we would like to extend our thanks for helping us get this far, the fact is it's illegal for civilians to participate in military operations. For that reason we have manufactured records stating you volunteered just before the Heliopolis incident. Since you`ll be disembarking soon these are your discharge papers. Without these any military officer who looks into the records of this ship can claim you are deserting and put you under court-martial." Said natarle as she looked to the confused faces of the Heliopolis tech students.

The group looked at them with seemingly concerned and thoughtful looks. "But what about Kira? Is he getting these papers?" asked kuzzey as he looked two the two officers hoping his friend wasn't being shanghaied into piloting the strike.

The aid got a scowl on his face at being reminded of the coordinator boy who had piloted the strike. Natarle however pointed to the papers she had set on the bed. "We made papers for him as well. Please make sure they get to him before you all disembark. "She said before her and the aid moved to leave but flay stopped them when she said, "excuse me!" they stopped and turned.

"You didn't participate in any combat operations. You have no need for discharge papers." Said natarle before again moving to leave.

Flay shook her head. "No it's not that. I want to enlist." she said loudly as if nervous about it. Everyone gasped at the girls claim.

Natarle turned to her again, "and for what reason do you wish to enlist? I`m certain your father won't approve."

Flay nodded and looked down at the floor. "I know daddy won't approve, after all he's more than happy to leave and get back to the safety of earth…but for some reason I feel I need to stay. I don't know why, maybe it's the fact I refused to help this whole time and I feel that I could have done more….or maybe it has to do with the fact I've started to get comfortable on this ship." she said to which to aids eyes widened.

"You're the vice foreign ministers daughter. Now I see what you mean by he won't approve." He said quietly.

She nodded. "Please allow me to enlist. My father may not approve and will likely do everything he can to stop me…but if I can't enlist with the alliance…well…"she looked up with determination in her eyes. "Then I'll find a way to join celestial being. For some reason I can't shake the feeling if I leave I'll be leaving something unfinished. And this is something…I just can't live with if I don't see it to the end." she said with conviction in her voice now.

Natarle nodded. "Ok…in that case come with us. We`ll get you a uniform and get all the paperwork filled out." She said before the now three of them left the room and left everyone looked to each other than to their discharge papers.

They all looked up when they heard a tearing sound. It was miriallia. "What are you doing Mir?" asked Tolle, concerned by his girlfriend's actions.

She giggled, "well we can't very well leave flay here all by herself right?" she asked. The others once again looked to their papers.

Tolle then tore his in half. "Well if you're staying I obviously have to stay. Can't leave my girl on a warship and still feel ok with myself." He said with made miriallia hug him. Of course her boyfriend would follow her.

Kuzzey then tore his in half. "I'm not going back alone. I mean Sai you're staying right? Flay is your fiancé after all." he said as he noticed Sai's hesitation.

Finally said looked up. "I'm sorry guys…I have to think about my future…"he said before he left the room to go find flays father. He felt bad to leave them…but he had to find flays father to talk some sense into her. But she seemed so determined, even willing to join Noah and Nicol…was he making the right choice?

The others meanwhile grabbed Kira's papers and went to go find him as alarms began to blare signaling a battle was about to begin.

_Face your fears_

Kira looked to the line of refugees boarding the shuttle that would take them to the Menelaus. He was still having second thoughts about leaving. As he thought though he felt a tug on his pants and looked down. He saw a little girl holding an origami flower.

The girl held the flower up and smiled. "This is for you…thank you for protecting us." She said as Kira took the flower. Her mother then called for her and she floated off to her family to join them. Kira was about to move to board the shuttle when he heard Tolle call out for him. He turned to see his friends still in their uniforms.

He was surprised to see them ready for duty. "What are you guys doing? Aren't you leaving?" he asked as he was handed a set of papers. "What are these?" he asked.

"Your discharge papers…we kind of tore ours up. Flay decided to enlist for some reason and we figured we can't very well leave her here. "Said miriallia as she smiled to her friend.

"Yeah plus the ship is short-handed as it is. They likely need us on the bridge. We figure it'd be our fault if the ship got shot down due to lack of staff." Said Tolle as he patted Kira's back and pushed off to leave the hangar with miriallia.

Kuzzey looked to Kira and smiled. "Go on without us…oh and say hi to our parents for us please." He said before leaving Kira to look at his discharge papers. "Hey come on kid, we have to go!" called out the officer in charge of loading the transport. Kira then looked to the flower and remembered mu's words.

He crumpled his papers in his hand and pushed off to leave the hangar. "Please go on without me!" he called out and went to go do what he had to do. "If I have the chance to make a difference…I should take it. After all…the strike chose me!" he thought in a sort of mental pep talk. He had to go suit up.

_Face your fears_

Flay stared at the blue flight suit. She was blushing…she had nearly began to beat the locker in an unknown fit of rage…but…it soon once again caused her to feel that unfamiliar warmth…and her heart ached at the thought of not seeing Kira again. She had never thought to have feelings for the boy, in fact she had somewhat liked the idea of marrying Sai even if it was arranged. He fit her status in life as a partner. But with him gone…who would pilot the strike? She had no experience on the bridge, and Nicol and Noah had already come through and changed into their flight suits.

She had essentially just disowned herself in a fight with Sai and her father where she essentially made it clear she'd find some way to stay…she may have disowned herself from her father at least, Sai had decided to stay, stating he'd be a horrible fiancé if he left her her.

But this confusion was driving her mad at this point. Even worse now as she looked at Kira's flight suit. Noah was a natural and he piloted his even more advanced machine. But she had heard he had years and years of training, she even heard he designed the machine so he knew every little detail of it.

But what else could she do? No refugees to help keep calm, the bridge was staffed, granted they all had to work almost round the clock shifts or had to be ready to jump to their stations at a moment's notice.

But just as she reached to pull the suit from the locker her hand was stopped. She looked up and saw Kira. "You…what are you doing here?" she asked, a tear coming to her eye as she was gently pushed away from the locker by Kira. The source of all her confusion…all her rage…and he was smiling at her with amusement.

_Face your fears_

Kira was just entering the ready room, expecting to finally meet Nicol as well as see Noah but instead he saw flay standing in front of his locker. Was she planning to pilot the strike? He had to laugh quietly at the thought. Not so much laughing at her…so much as laughing at the thought of her in the strike. But this helped him almost make sense of what he felt earlier when Noah spoke to him about his connection to the strike as when he thought of her dying in the strike as it was destroyed it pained him to realize that he cared more about the fact the strike would be destroyed and less about flays life.

And before all this he had a massive crush on this girl…and now he cared more about that machine then her. He frowned at that thought. He noticed though she seemed hesitant to grab it. He slowly began to move towards her and watched her. Just as she went to grab the suit he reached out and gently grabbed her arm.

He smiled as she turned to him. "Yeah…I'm still here. Everyone decided to stay since you volunteered. And I realized if I left I'd be worried about you all. It's easier for me to stay and protect you all then leave and worry. Besides…"he said, pulling the flight suit out and getting ready to change into it. "I think Noah would hunt me down and kill me if he had to babysit you on the battlefield." he said with a chuckle as he moved so she could leave. "Go back to your bunk for now. I need to get ready in case we have to sortie." he said as he pushed flay towards the door to leave. She blinked and nodded, leaving but stopped at the door and turned to him.

"Kira…please come back. And when you do…find me. I want to talk with you in private." she said a before leaving. And with that he got into his flight suit and began to mentally prepare for another fight.

_Face your fears_

Nicol took a deep breath as he sat in the cockpit of the blitz. No soldiers outside it, the remote shut down was the least of the mechanics worries as they tried to ready the mobile armor Lt la flaga would be piloting. Apparently because he would sortie with Noah he and Noah were back-ups.

As he settled in to wait for the battle to get bad enough they were called upon he got pinged on an open channel. When he opened it he he saw that it was Noah. He blinked. But why on an open channel? He decided to hear what his new superior had to say. Speaking of which at least he agreed to his request to simply have his flight suit and zaft uniform altered insignia wise so he could wear them and not the earth alliances. He joined celestial being. Not the alliance.

_Face your fears_

Murrue was surprised when she heard from comms that Noah was broadcasting on an open frequency. "Put it on screen. I`d like to hear what he has to say if he's making it open for anyone to hear."

Soon she watched Noah on the bridges main monitor, curious as to what the boy had in mind now. Just what game was he playing broadcasting to everyone, even zaft?

_Face your fears._

All of the earth alliance vessels had answered Noah's hail and the zaft forces had even stopped in order to answer it. Everyone was curious what Noah had to say.

Halberton watched the broadcast from his own bridge and waited for the enigmatic pilot to speak.

_Face your fears_

Noah's com screen registered that his hail had gone out and he was speaking to everyone who answered the open frequency hail.

"Time to man up…or bitch out…"he thought as he cleared his throat.

"My name is Noah Carson, I am the pilot of EX-caliber, or as zaft knows it, alpha one. I am sure you're all wondering why I'm broadcasting on an open frequency, from my mobile suit, in the hangar of the earth alliances prototype carrier. I have a message for you all…" he said before closing his eyes. Now he'd take the world stage and reveal his existence and celestial beings. He had to wonder if everyone would buy what he was about to say.

Only time would tell…

" I am the leader of an organization known as celestial being…a third party armed organization in possession of the mobile weapon "gundam" and our goal is simple…" he narrowed his eyes before making aoliea schenbergs same declaration to the two world powers at once.

"**We shall eradicate war through armed interventions…"**

**Face your fears**

**So…there you have it. Noah has revealed celestial being to the world. Nicol has joined him and he still intends to fight both sides of this war. This chapter should be a bit longer when I post it. This is due to the fact for a bit I began falling into my habit of simply altering the same storyline, not writing it in my own way and accounting for how things happen due to alterations.**

**Also some of you may be wondering why flay seems to be experiencing something along the lines of déjà vu as well as feeling how she did during the original storyline. This is due in part to the zero system straining to account for all characters and how they are reacting to Noah and his radical changes. His recruiting Nicol to celestial being was, as I had him think, a big factor in that. The more he changes things, which won't be much more though his changes already will have a massive butterfly effect, anyways the more characters will have déjà vu like her. **

**I do plan for eventually someone to start asking him questions about how he seems to be the center of the déjà vu though I'm not saying who. **

**Also I want to put a small disclaimer here, I am, in no way, a fan of Kira shipping with flay…but that sadly will still happen partially. **

**ALSO I'd like to apologize for Noah's outburst, one thing I hate about seed was the racism. Seriously. It will also show up more as to how Noah, and I, feel about seed. **

**ALSO lol I apologize for how shotgun it is. Again I originally started following the episode then got back into following my own path. This chapter may be re-written in the future.**

**Anyways as usual read and review, next time we get to see both sides face the full power of Noah's suit and Nicol will have to face his former friends on the battlefield. How will he react to this…how will they react? **


	5. an angel spreads its wings

**I own nothing in terms of the gundam seed characters or the base model parts of the EX-caliber gundam though its personal design and name are mine. Thank Bandai though for the basics. Also thank nemesis astrea once again for letting me use his basic plot point of the ZERO system. **

**Find your grace**

Noah paused for a moment to let that declaration sink into all participants of the coming battle. "...we do not do this for our own benefit, no…we do it to better mankind, to rid the world of this scourge known as war. We do this to make those that think they are saving the world by condemning their fellow man or that they are doing god's work wake up and get their heads out of their asses." he said calmly, putting his own spin on Aeolia schenbergs declaration. This would easily reach both sides radicals with this many participants in the battle.

_Find your grace_

Murrue gasped. Noah was revealing celestial being to everyone. But why? Why after he clearly made an impression on halberton…why explain that he essentially intended to wipe the battlefield clean short of himself, Nicol, and this ship and crew…it would only serve to put the earth alliance on defense. She looked to the monitor and continued to hear him out. This almost sounded paraphrased…like someone else had told him what to say. Her eyes narrowed. "Noah Carson…just what did you do when you left?" she thought as she listened to him.

_Find your grace_

Halberton glared at the screen as he listened to Noah. So he HAD been threatening the ship. Just what did he do by approving the zaft prisoners release and transfer to his custody? And how would this boy effect the battle? Would he focus on zaft more than them? Or would they be his primary target? Even the earth alliance barely had a shred of evidence as to where his machine came from or what all it could do.

"Admiral! What should we do? We know NOTHING about that machine!" called out his aid, clearly angry that he couldn't say he told him so.

Halberton looked to his bridge crew who were all looking to him for guidance. He cleared his throat. "We shall wait and see if Lt. Ramius lets him launch. If he does THEN and ONLY THEN will we worry about him. He is just one man, one machine. We have proven with zaft that numbers can win a battle. He will be no different." he stated as he took on a look of determination. In truth he had taken a look at the machine while on the archangel, wanting to also see the strike and blitz. The way it stood between them, black with blood red accents…it looked like it could come to life at a moment's notice and wreak havoc in the cosmic era worse than the nuclear missile launched on the plant colony. Unlike the grey blitz and strike who looked like statues guarding the demon machine.

But…from the images he had seen when he reviewed the archangels after action reports that involved the machine…that glow that followed the gundam seemed to carry the hopes and dreams of humanity, that this machine could change the war drastically for the better. Not in the way blue cosmos may want it to change, or the plant radicals either.

No…it could show that this war had no point to it anymore. That humans, natural or coordinator, should be able to live together in peace. It was one reason why he backed this project. Not just because he wanted mobile suits to help protect his homeland, but because it was orb that would be willing to help. That they wanted to help with this project seemed like a turning point in the war already.

With that thought having passed he took a deep breath and continued to listen to what the boy was saying. His aid was right after all. They knew nothing about him perhaps this may help them.

_Find your grace_

Rau had to admit the boy had balls. He was declaring war on the world, even from within the archangel. But he had to wonder…would he attack the legged ship now? Had he been a double agent this whole time?

The blonde commander couldn't help but smile as he stood up and looked to the Vesalius' captain. "Captain you have the bridge. I`m going to go prepare to sortie in my C-GUE. "he said as he watched the captain turn around with a confused look for a moment then nodded.

"Good hunting sir." He said before turning back to focus on commanding the zaft forces as a nearby patrol began to add to their number. He had noticed the alliance forces seem to notice them and was slowly moving to form a defensive formation around the legged ship. Today would be the day….

_Find your grace_

Nicol looked from his comms monitor to his right side monitor and stared with his mouth open at the EX-caliber. Noah hadn't been joking. His plan was to take on the world….and the fact the legged ship had been his vessel of choice given their own prototype carrier had been destroyed was the only reason it hadn't been sunk.

But…if they planned to take on the entire world and give it a huge middle finger….the thought of EX-calibers power and the fact it was meant to have…well with who knows how many fellow machines….they very well may have been able to do it.

Noah sunk back in his seat. Suddenly he wasn't so confident about taking the field with Noah….or his decision to join celestial being. Was it too late to be a POW again? Or would Noah kill him for running away from a man hell bent on eliminating WAR? Who did that anyways?

All Nicol knew was that he needed to do something to get on captain Ramius' good side so he didn't have to spend his last days in a cell. With that thought he sat back up and gripped his controls, closing his eyes as he gathered the courage to fulfill the agreement he made with Noah. Today he'd fight his kinsmen…his friends…

And he'd kill them…

_Find your grace_

Noah decided to continue. After all a threat was nothing without heero's favorite set of words…well…sort of. "That…was our originally intended message for the world…well the gist of it." He said, shrugging as if this was all a joke. But a moment later his eyes narrowed once more.

"Instead…I simply have this to say. This war has no point to it anymore. It's just a pissing match between two idiotic radical groups who view themselves superior and won't listen to those who still have a head on their shoulders. Innocent blood is either being spilt or corrupted by this war, with each side having racist bastards fueling it! Because of this I make both sides my target so that maybe you`ll all wake the fuck up! And the sad truth is…I will kill you all until you do so." He said before closing his open coms and just opened a channel to the blitz.

"Nicol you're launching with me. We are gonna intercept the zaft forces. We may be targeting both sides but some of those soldiers are good people." he said as EX-caliber was moved into the catapult. He was surprised it was already all set up. Seemed murrue got the idea from what he said.

He looked at a screen containing his rear view before the airlock could close. He smirked when he saw the blitz leaving its bay and following him. He looked back at his main screen and tapped it to expand it slightly while the catapult opened. He still couldn't believe he was here, and to see the 8th lunar fleet floating out in space around him…it made him grip his control balls tighter as he felt the catapult launch him from the ship. Today he'd be in his largest engagement yet and against both green and experienced pilots alike…he'd really have to bring his A game.

_Find your grace_

Once he was clear of the ship he glanced to the right and noticed a group of ships, likely a nearby patrol that was joining zafts assault. "Likely spawned due to my presence and the zero system." He thought as he flew towards it.

The moment he moved for them their defenses flew up. They were out of range for the original three attacking ships to target him without blind firing and hitting their own ships but they had stopped dead in the water, as if the ships themselves were unsure of what to do…that was till they began to throw up a field of flak and began moving slowly so they could coordinate their fire.

As usual he began spinning, diving, jinking, everything to dodge their fire, gritting his teeth as he felt EX-caliber shake from taking a few hits. Finally he decided they were manually targeting him and were too coordinated for him to get close so he flew away for the moment. It seemed the ships thought they had actually beat him back.

They were DEAD wrong.

Instead he flew away and around to be between them and the main three ships attacking the 8th lunar fleet. He once again opened a channel with the blitz. "Nicol I want you to position yourself between the fleets. Once both sides begin launching focus on the mobile armors and the Heavy weapon system ginns. If your former team comes after you….you remember our conversation…eliminate them." he said before closing the channel and raising ex-calibers left arm. Zaft already knew about his shield and the heat blades…so why not show off it's only truly offensive system?

As the ships began to close the gap between him and them and rau le creuset's fleet began launching their mobile suits the black bars on his shield swung forward and locked into their MAC cannon configuration. He then targeted the lead ship of the patrol joining the fight right as it opened its launch bay.

Zooming in he could just barely see the GiNN in the launch bay and smirked as the bars charged with electricity. "Well…time to get this show started." He said calmly before pulling the trigger on the mac cannon. With a loud snap the now small E-carbon ball that was the cannons ammunition rolled into the charged rails…and shot out towards the ship.

No one could tell what happened, anyone who watched would simply see a flash between the bars…and an explosion go off between the ships launching arms….

_Find your grace_

Nicol had just launched from the archangel…and couldn't help but feel the irony. If he didn't know the raw power and speed of EX-caliber he would have spun right around and launched his glepnir anchor into the bridge and be done with the ship. Instead he decided to follow through on his decision to follow Noah's orders and flew away from the ship towards his previous team's home fleet. He then noticed a hail from Noah and answered it.

"Nicol I want you to position yourself between the fleets. Once both sides begin launching focus on the mobile armors and the Heavy weapon system ginns. If your former team comes after you….you remember our conversation…eliminate them." Said Noah and Nicol nodded.

"I-I understand. I`ll engage enemy forces immediately." He stated as he already saw the GiNNs launching and the mobile armors. He was curious as to why he wanted him to focus on the mobile armors in general and specific ginns. But then it made sense. Both the GiNNs he mentioned and the mobile armors had missiles, meaning they could deliver a larger payload to their targets, destroying ships for the GiNN's and it was usually what gave a Mobile armor it's best chance at beating a GiNN. While it meant he may have a chance to kill more mobile armors than his fellow coordinators, he knew they still would launch more than a few of the GiNNs with the heavy weapon systems.

Still as he flew into the fray that had already begun he noticed both a GiNN and two mobile armors heading for him. It seemed they cared more about shooting him down then they did each other. As the mobile armors used their speed to get to him first he jinked to the side to come between them and ignited the beam saber in his trikeros weapon system and sliced the one to his right in half as they passed him before spinning around and firing shot from his beam rifle into the other mobile armors rear, piercing it from the back to front and causing it to explode.

He oddly smiled when he glanced to EX-caliber and saw it still focusing on the zaft patrol, now flying towards the confused ships after having apparently shot something inside one of their launch bays. He knew the mystery pilot would make quick work of the patrol ships and join him. It would certainly make it easier dealing with the other prototypes.

For now he turned back to the GiNN that was coming at him…

_Find your grace_

Noah sped towards the three zaft ships and got closer this time before their defenses came back up just as the other two ships launched their GiNN's. He dodged and weaved between the AA fire and GiNN rifle fire. Finally as the ship who's launch system he destroyed got a GiNN to pull away the wreckage he flew in and jammed his GN sword three into the GiNN, spearing the cockpit before withdrawing the blade and kicking the machine back before it could explode, now within the hangar, destroying any chance the ship had at launching mobile suits.

With that job done he boosted up to look into the bridge. This close to the ship their manual targeting defenses were almost inoperable due to the slightest misfire meant hitting their own ship. He looked into the bridge, seeing the terrified crew and sighed as he found himself hesitating for a moment.

He was about to kill them…he'd have their blood on his hands. But did this count? He had already killed two GiNN's before, and now two more in this engagement. Did this make him a killer if he ever got home?

Banishing those thoughts from his mind he brought the EX-calibers right arm up and back, bringing the GN blade back into its stowed position and got ready to just crush the bridge with the rifle portion of the GN blade when a warning blared stating he had a missile coming his way from behind. He smirked and boosted up at the last moment, allowing the missile to hit the bridge and as he flew away and circled back to see just what person had the balls to attack him from behind.

He found himself instead being hit by a grey shoulder guard and being shoved back. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth as his cockpit shook. He opened his eyes to see a familiar grey mobile suit aiming a second missile at him. He floored it right towards the machine.

Seemingly unphased by the impending assault the CGUE fired the second missile before ditching the launcher and drawing his own sword and launching towards EX-caliber.

As EX-caliber came within seconds of being struck by the missile it rolled to the left before flying alongside the missile, coating it in electronic scrambling GN particles and causing it to lose its short range lock on him. From there Noah found himself being hit by the CGUE as he passed the missile, this time an elbow to the gut.

_Find your grace_

"SO YOU REALLY ARE JUST A NATURAL! I KNEW YOU WERE JUST A FLUKE…NOAH CARSON!" yelled rau le creuset over an open channel as he drew his CGUES blade and raised it to strike at EX-caliber. As the sword came down he smirked as Noah's originally concealed shield was brought out to block the heavy sword.

The blade hit the shield with a bang and as they pushed off from each other he brought his CGUE's Vulcan shield up and the chain gun inside the shield began to spin up. "Time to say good bye EX-caliber. Guess you're not all your name makes you out to be." he said calmly before opening fire on the mobile suit. At this range the suit should have been shredded without phase shift armor, and Rau wasn't locking on so he should have had no problem hitting the machine.

Instead when the smoke cleared the machine was floating there. Perfectly intact albeit frozen, as if expecting the same reaction. What had just happened? The machine before him should be in pieces yet it looked like at best it had a few nicks on it. He growled and regained his composure…sort of. "JUST WHAT ARE YOU!?" he yelled as EX-caliber brought it's sword up and blocked him as he swung once, twice , three times…he kept swinging at the black and red machine. The machines eyes seemed to have dimmed slightly and rau wondered if it meant he was doing more than just keeping the pilot dazed. He grinned and kept striking at the machine, occasionally getting a hit in on the arm or shoulder, or the tip of his blade on the main body but that just seemed to keep the pilot dazed no matter where he hit.

Finally rau ditched the sword and pushed his accelerator to hit the gundam once more, causing it to drop its guard and allow him to grab the head and stop the machine from floating away before raising his Vulcan shield to what he assumed would be the cockpit. "It's time for you to leave this world mister Carson, for your organization to leave the stage. It's just a shame you had to involve Nicol. But him and athrun were always too weak for my liking…and with the next line of machines being built I'm certain Nicol will no longer be needed." he said before pulling the trigger.

But right as the first round left the barrel EX-calibers blood red eye flashed…just the one eye and the machine seemed to begin to shake before turning red. The next thing rau knew it was gone and a flurry of bullets flew through empty space and GN particles. He began to grind his teeth. Just how many tricks did this machine have up its sleeve?

It was then his noticed his CGUEs right hand was missing…well that and half its forearm. Just what was this machine capable of?

_Find your grace_

Rau le creuset was outpacing him. Out thinking him. Him...a gunpla battle world champ runner up and even at that it had been close…and the char clone was out maneuvering him. How did he not see the missile was a distraction? A way to get close without him focusing on rau. He was cursing himself so long he didn't see rau bringing his sword down till it was too late and he had to react on instinct, bringing up the left arm and its shield.

He quickly shoved the sword away again and intended to use the GN repeater now available with the GN blade stowed but again rau beat him to it as he found himself face to face with his CGUEs Vulcan.

This was it, this was the end. There was no way he could block in time as the barrels were already spinning. And he…he...he couldn't decide what to do. It was just like that world championship. He had had a custom wing gundam buster rifle pointed at him, the barrel already glowing yellow and ready to fire.

He only had a split second to decide what to do. And just like then he had been out maneuvered and was having to play catch up….then put in a situation where he either acted or he didn't….and like last time…he frozed.

He closed his eyes and looked away from his main monitor, gripping his control balls to the point the plavsky particles based orbs were beginning to crack under his grip.

He felt the gunfire hit his machine, felt his cockpit shake and waited for it to pierce his machine and kill him.

But it never came.

He slowly opened his eyes as the pounding and shaking stopped and blinked. He loosened his grip on the control balls, also allowing EX-caliber arms to fall to its sides as he stared at the red hot barrel of le creuset's Vulcan.

He checked his damage monitor…and saw aside from minor stress on the e-carbon in certain places that was quickly fading it seemed EX-caliber was intact. Of course similar to phase shift armor the machine had to transfer GN particles to strengthen the armor where it was being hit. So the eyes had begun to dim as the machine focused on keeping itself intact.

He began to plan a counter measure as rau seemed to be in a similar state of shock. He got ready to fight back but rau AGAIN beat him to it and he grit his teeth as he listened to the char clone yell at him over an open channel before beginning to simply assault him with the CGUE's heavy sword. The sword in question should have cut itself in half on the blade of the GN sword 3 after he brought it out to attack but instead blocked with it…but since the condensed GN particle edge wasn't charged with particles the blade was simply a physical blade and was only able to defend him…somewhat. He was still being beaten back slowly, his suit taking a few hits to the body.

Finally he thought rau was done when he ditched the sword to the void of space and as he got ready to fight back he found himself yelling in pain as he was once again shook and his head hit the back of his chair hard.

Rau had just elbowed him again and as he let go of the control balls the gundam simply went limp and began to float…till rau grabbed the head. Noah could only open his eyes in surprise when rau got so close to his machine and his camera was filled with the CGUE's mono-eye.

When he heard rau begin to give a small farewell speech he knew he had to act. Grabbing the control balls he took a deep breath and listened to the chain gun begin to spin up. Outside his cockpit. At that range, GN particle reinforcement or not…he would die. And he couldn't move away in time conventionally nor raise his shield or sword to bash the gun away or cut it in half. He had one option at this range.

He pressed the button on the control ball to access his arsenal and went to his SP section. His trans-am…it was reveal this to zaft or die here. And he couldn't die. Not yet…

With that he activated trans-am and a screen appeared below his main monitor with his trans-am time.

He heard the drive spin up and as it did so he brought up his left arm and used the shields heat sabers to cut off the arm at the middle of the forearm. With that he flew away, all in the blink of an eye…with a CGUE hand covering his face.

He needed to ditch le creuset and re-join the fight. With that in mind he knocked the CGUEs hand off his face and sped off towards the firefight that was slowly moving towards earth's atmosphere. He needed to save those civilians or distract yzak before his trans-am ran out and even more so before he got caught in earth's gravity. Once trans-am ran out he'd lose the mobility needed to reach the archangel. And he wasn't sure if he'd have enough particles to form a shield in front of him so he could survive re-entry.

_Find your grace_

Murrue was biting her lip as she watched the fighting on her monitor. She had already gotten clearance from admiral halberton to begin their decent so the entire 8th fleet had begun to move towards earth to protect them.

They were already down ten ships and the battle was hardly even 5 minutes old. Then again it didn't help that in between bringing down mobile armors and GiNNs Nicol and the blitz were a whole nother animal now. It moved efficiently, not a single motion was wasted. It even was using the lancer darts like spears, firing them from the shield and retrieving them to use later or to simply turn around and…well spear a GiNN or mobile armor with it.

It was obvious the stealth machines new performance was beginning to irritate both sides as the few GiNNs left were either focusing on destroying ships or they were focusing on Nicol so as to let the other prototypes assault the fleet and likely get to them as an ultimate goal.

But what had caught her attention was Noah's interrupted assault on a zaft patrol that had clearly come here ASAP to back up the three ships originally attacking them specifically for Noah's presence. The whole bridge seemed surprised when rau le creuset came out of the fray with a pair of missiles and began an assault on Noah….and an assault it was.

They all watched almost in horror as EX-caliber was punished more and more.

As she watched the CGUE assault EX-caliber with its sword murrue couldn't help but silently beg Noah to fight back, to show them that the fear and terror his machine had instilled by its lethality, and awe and inspiration it gave as an ally was well placed. That they hadn't all worried over nothing.

She cringed when she saw the CGUE grab the gundams head and she was ready to write Noah off but then in what seemed like a red flash the enigmatic gundam was gone, no-where to be seen.

She began to search for him on her personal screen in any way, radar, and the ships various cameras. Finally she found a red streak with a black core headed into the battle. "So this is the trans-am system…"she whispered, remembering the load-out Noah had sent her just after the admiral left. It had stated how the machine glowed red and began to move 3 times faster. But it was a double edged sword.

As she watched him though her radar crewman called out, "oh shit…a GiNN broke through the fleet's defenses…I-it's got heavy assault gear…AND IT'S HEADED FOR US!" he cried out as he looked to the bridges windows.

The GiNN was heading their way with two missiles left on a rack held in its left arm while its right held its rifle. As it flew into the barrage of AA fire it quickly let loose both its missiles, clearly hoping that they would hit. Sadly all that did was lessen the fire on his GiNN as both missiles were quickly shot down along with his left arm was shot off. But soon he was in the archangel's bubble, its rifle aimed right at the bridge.

Murrue gasped and the entire bridge crew braced themselves for the end. Instead they saw a yellow claw spear the GiNN from the back. The claw closed and retreated back through the hole it had made which also replaced the cockpit and its battery. As it exploded they looked past it and saw the blitz. It hovered there for a moment, as if still trying to decide if they were targets or not before flying off back into the fray.

Murrue opened and closed her mouth like a fish as she tried to find the words to say. Nicol…had just saved them. It was one thing to follow Noah's rules about his targets…but to pursue a GiNN and save them…she finally found the words she wanted, "I WANT A STATUS REPORT ON THE BLITZ! HOW MUCH POWER DOES IT HAVE LEFT?" she called out and her crew got back to work preparing for entry into earth's atmosphere and beginning to actually add the blitz to their friendly roster and set up a link like they had with the strike.

She then remembered Mu was waiting in the hangar. "Launch la flaga and inform him he is to reinforce Nicol!" she called out and again her crew got to work launching the orange mobile armor. She was surprised to hear miriallia asking what to launch the strike with.

She was about to ask why he was still there but realized why as she remembered who was filling her CIC. "launch Kira in the aile configuration, he is to find the other prototypes and hold them off till we are ready to begin our decent into earths entry interface!" she said, being reminded by natarle they were only 20 minutes out from making their decent. Still…they had to make sure Noah and Nicol could come back.

_Find your grace_

Nicol groaned as the blitz was rocked by another burst from a GiNN. After he had fired a lancer dart through his first GiNN's cockpit and caught it on the other side as he flew by like a sewing needle everything became clear. In his mind he could see a puddle of water and a glowing seed. Just as he glanced out onto the growing battlefield the seed dropped and the moment it touched the water it burst.

His mind seemed to go blank, his body reacting to oncoming GiNNs and mobile armor like the blitz was an extension of himself. One GiNN on his kill count became 3, one mobile armor became five. And as he navigated the battlefield he found himself beside or near alliance ships and began sinking them. Of course after about his third ship taking down things began to become more of a fight. GiNNs began trying to coral him so yzak or Dearka could come to him. He traded fire with them but ultimately got away. He was even somehow managing to switch between his mirage colloid cloaking and his phase shift armor well enough he could be in a fight, disappear like a phantom, then reappear and attack.

He was also focusing on GiNNs with missile sets. Finally he climbed and eventually got above the fray...sort of. He was at least out of everyone's focus. He glanced to his power gauge and was surprised to find it only half gone. But then again he had almost forgotten how much he was reusing his lancer darts.

He finally noticed one of his prey managing to slip past a pair of alliance vessels just as athrun grappled the bridge of one in the aegis' mobile armor mode and fired its hidden 308mm Scylla cannon through it while Dearka connected his two guns to form their hyper beam rifle and gutted the second vessel.

"Crap…it's gonna go for the archangel." he said as he sent the blitz into a dive. As he re-entered the fray he activated the mirage colloid, deftly dodging any and all fire as he stealthed through the battlefield and hunted down the heavy weapon system GiNN. He cursed as he caught up and found the GiNN moments from firing its rifle directly into the bridge of the archangel.

Without wasting time debating how to handle it he activated the phase shift armor again and turned before spinning back, slinging the left arm out and launching the glepnir rocket anchor at it. Thanks to it's built in rockets the claw quickly connected to its target, running it through from behind and destroying both the cockpit and the battery.

He retracted the claw just as it exploded. After it docked on his left arm again he looked at where the GiNN had been. Ever since his first GiNN kill in this fight he hadn't hesitated to destroy anything he came into contact with. Be it ZAFT or earth alliance.

The only thing to survive encountering him currently were his former teammates…and sadly that's not for a lack of trying.

After contemplating all this he decided to leave it till later and the Blitz once again climbed back into the fight, re-engaging his cloaking as he slowly began contemplating how to potentially "hunt" the other prototypes.

_Find your grace_

Noah looked on into space as he withdrew his blade from the bridge of an earth alliance destroyer. Still in trans-am the machine was no match for anything on the field. Why he wasn't using this to potentially eliminate Yzak or capture the rest of team "council princess'" he had no idea but as he turned and flew off to bisect a GiNN he found himself noticing the EX-caliber was growing heavy, even with trans-am active. They were entering earth's atmosphere.

The blonde took a moment to examine the battlefield and noticed it was beginning to follow the path of the episode. Rau was no-where to be seen, then again he was missing a hand, and he likely had to retreat to get repairs.

Most enemy units had retreated…well…the remaining ginns were retreating…the mobile armors were all but gone.

The Menelaus and the Gamow were trading shots and trapped in earth's gravity.

Since Nicol was fighting on their side...and no-where to be seen it seemed the aegis had pulled back as Rau would have ordered.

He glanced towards earth again and he saw Mu and Nicol trading fire with Dearka, it seemed more so that Nicol was trying to distract Dearka so that Mu could get a shot on the buster but sadly the stealth machine didn't have enough weapons to both distract the buster and block or dodge it's attacks. Whenever it fired its beam rifle mu would hit it with his gun barrel pods so as to throw off the shot and save Nicol while when Dearka tried to hit mu he would ram it or take a pot shot with its own beam rifle.

Good. Nicol had done something to win his favor.

As he realized he was running out of time sitting there in trans-am he looked for yzak…and found him.

"Shit…" yzak was about to fire on the civilians.

Without thinking Noah pushed his accelerator to its max and tried to intercept the shot.

Everything went into slow motion as he caught up to everything. He barely had any time to block the beam as it was seconds from hitting the shuttle. So he did the next best thing from just shoving his shield in front of it and likely failing.

He spun around and with the momentum of the spin and his trans-am just fading he put himself between the beam and the civilians.

He prayed to god it didn't hit the GN drive. But if it did, if this was the end then well…at least he went out doing something good.

He got lucky though as he also spread his arms, not entirely sure where the beam would hit. In doing so his GN shield overlapped where the beam would have hit and took the shot.

Noah watched the shuttle continued its path and he heard the GN drive slow down as his trans-am ended. He opened a com channel with Kira as the strike physically turned to watch the shuttle. "Kid…hey kid…KIRA!" he shouted as he felt his cockpit begin to heat up.

Finally Kira responded, his own face coated in sweat as his cockpit was likely beginning to heat up. "Mr. Carson…what is it?" he asked as he panted, trying to figure out how to get the strike to perform re-entry.

"Kid my suit can't handle re-entry on its own….well…it can but…I just dumped all my particles into helping finish that fight." Said Noah as he felt his body begin to become soaked in sweat.

Kira's eyes widened. He knew the strike couldn't protect them both. So…why ask him for help?

Noah moved and Kira saw his sword shift and move up on its arm, somewhat freeing up his right hand.

"If we combine our thrusting power we may be able to make it to the archangel. You use the aile pack to angle us towards them, as well a work on forward momentum, I'll put what power my GN drive can put out towards pushing us towards It." he said as he looked to the ship in question.

It was already moving to catch them. Not that he wanted to drop straight to Alaska but he had hoped to avoid landing in Africa. With the EX-caliber a full sized mech he was not sure how it would handle the sand without being tuned for it. And he only knew how to tune it in its model form…not its operating system.

As he latched onto the strike he noticed Kira already putting his plan into action. They had no choice but to simply move towards the archangel, unable to truly meet it. It was undeniable, they would still land in Africa, maybe a mile or more from where they were, but that's sadly how small the difference would be.

Nicol and mu were waiting for them on one leg of the ship already. Slowly but surely they reached the ship, Noah releasing the fellow gundam as they made room for each other on the opposite leg.

At this point the heat was getting to Noah and he found his eyes getting heavy and his vision blurred. "No…can't black out…I refuse to die…here..." with that Noah lost the battle with his body and passed out just like Kira.

_Find your grace_

Rau le creuset was sitting on the bridge of the Vesalius watching the archangel get away…and EX-caliber.

He had been surprised when he reached the hangar and got out to see his right hand and part of the forearm had been cut off cleanly, even the wires were singed to keep the cut clean. He had expected it to be torn off by the speed the machine showed after it began glowing red.

"Just what all can you do Noah Carson…"he said quietly. He had had the machine pinned, dead to rights after it seemed the fact he had out maneuvered the boy had stunned him. Obviously he was used to...well winning.

And at that speed…to make such a cut without simply removing the whole arm…why not kill him? If he could make such a maneuver surely he could have ran his CGUE through…

The boy continued to intrigue him as he finally got out of his chair and headed for his cabin. He needed rest…and his hands were beginning to shake…he needed some of his pills.

_Find your grace_

Murrue looked out the main monitors of her bridge. On one leg of the ship she had two mobile suits, one of unprecedented power with multiple cases of being a double edged blade, the other a child who was forced to become a soldier to protect those he loved.

On the other leg a former enemy turned ally and one of the earth alliances top ace pilots.

She smiled as she counted her blessings in the fact they started this journey worried every day that they would be jumped by zaft and it would be their last as Kira would fail and they would all fall at the hands of machines that had originally been theirs.

And now they were likely one of zafts most high valued targets, Noah in particular. With each encounter they were sending more and more machines to face them in an attempt to wear them down and ultimately kill them. She knew it meant zaft was likely becoming scared of just how invincible this ship seemed to be.

But like with the GiNN earlier she also knew in the blink of an eye this could all end, their number would come up and they would all stare down the barrel of an enemy ship or a mobile suits rifle and no one would be there to save them.

She watched though as the Menelaus blew up and she stood and saluted. She had been so focused on keeping up with Noah and Kira she hadn't been paying attention to the fleet.

Once she gave the fallen admiral a moment of silence she sat back down and began to get status reports from her bridge crew. They would be landing in Africa, in the middle of the dessert at night. And a long night it would be with recovering the mobile suits and armor as well as making sure their pilots were ok, getting any damage repaired. She sighed and began that long night by beginning to figure out how they would recover their machines.

**Find your grace**

**Ok sorry for the wait. I just got a new roommate who apparently finds my typing to be too loud for his liking so i`ve been letting him get used to the place and tried not to do too much typing. Working on getting a different keyboard. **

**Anyways so I know some of that battle will seem kinda shotgunned in there and not entirely make sense. I`ll be honest…I almost lost interest in this story cause I kept looking ahead and wanting to write advanced chapters. But then I got an idea for literally the next chapter and I knew I had to finish this one in order to write that one lol. So…I powered through it and found a way to get everything to work ok. **

**Now…Nicol has accepted the fact he's at odds with both sides now. And yes he'd a seed bearer or whatever that…reverend malchio or whoever called Kira that. And also yes Nicol saved the archangel. You read that right. But by then he was down to a HWS GiNN or whatever their classification is or two before he'd have to take on the more lightly armed GiNNs he also had more alliance kills under his belt than GiNNs so it kind of comes to a point where he has to choose….go against Noah, the pilot of EX-caliber and likely die…or accept his place in celestial being and fight to end this war.**

**Also now zaft knows about the MAC gun setting on Noah's shield as well as trans-am. So two more reasons GiNN pilots should piss their pants at the sight of his machine…like the wing pilots did to OZ.**

**But no after this next chapter Noah's invincibility is going to slowly going to fade as the zero system strains under the challenge of finding him a foe to challenge him…which will also be his love interest. **

**Next chapter: intermission…yeah I'm putting it in there…what no one wants to know Lukes reaction so far to such a BS story and get a sneak peak as to my plans for the future? Well screw you guys…I'll just take your cup of hot chocolate then…lol **

**OH ONE MORE THING! Check back to chapter one before I post the chapter after this. As I said before parts of chapter one will be altered to account for things I put in which effect the build fighters universe part of the story…well didn't specify that but…yeah that's the mainly non original parts so…they need to change…**


	6. intermission

**I own nothing in terms of the gundam seed characters or the base model parts of the EX-caliber gundam though its personal design and name are mine. Thank Bandai though for the basics. Also thank nemesis astrea once again for letting me use his basic plot point of the ZERO system. **

**Intermission**

"Really? So after getting your ass handed to you by rau le creuset, a char clone and a terrible one at that, you not only waste a trans-am on destroying a few ships and mobile armors so as to "make sure your threat wasn't taken as being vague", then to top it off, you almost die by nearly having to perform re-entry on your own." Said Luke as he set Noah's requested cup of hot chocolate in front of him as well as his third plate of pop tarts.

Noah nodded as he dug into the pastries. It was nearly midnight and he had just finished a shower, changing into new clothes, and then finally telling Luke the story, from the top, as to what all happened to him. Luke had been silent, only talking when confirming what Noah wanted as he was hungry, tired and thirsty all at once so Luke was helping him adjust to…well what equated to helping a war vet re-adjust to civilian life.

Every small noise had Noah jumping, and he had tried to take a nap only to awake yelling a warning to Nicol about something coming at him. He showed all the signs of PTSD and in each symptom he proved more and more that he had in fact in those few minutes…live months aboard the archangel and as a true gundam pilot.

Luke shook his head as he sat down to his own second helping of hot cocoa. He took a sip and cleared his throat. "I just...I still can't believe it. I mean you literally got to pilot a gundam. Hell you got to sleep in the beds on the archangel, meet Kira…I mean I'm no seed fan boy but still….say what were the beds like anyways?" he asked as he thought of it.

Noah raised an eyebrow as he swallowed his bite of pop tart. "Hard, cold…well that was all I knew for now. Later when I actually got quarters with Nicol…kinda soft, warm...slightly better then what I'd expect prison beds to feel like. But again they were meant for military personnel. I mean Nicol said that it was quite an upgrade from zafts quarters. Why does it matter though?" asked Noah as he sipped his cocoa.

Luke shrugged. "I don't know…first thing to come to mind. I just can't believe you lived through all this." he said as he got up and glanced back into the room containing the simulator. Everything was saved onto a removable hard drive and the system was shut down. While Noah had tried to nap Luke had looked into the simulator and was surprised by what he found.

Inside the makeshift cockpit the chair had a blackened hole through the center of it, and the back wall was scorched with an obvious entry circle for something in the core. And when he sat down in it the seat seemed to have a crunch to it, like it had gone from a comfortable leather seat to a burnt crisp that was waiting to turn to dust. When the simulator closed he had gasped.

The front of the cockpit had a massive scorch mark on it, and when the plavsky particles tried forming the cockpit they were like a corrupted file. The main viewing monitor was missing spots, the control orbs were cracked and not responding, and not even movable...whatever system Noah had to keep the particles forming the cockpit had been broken to all hell. Whatever had finally pulled Noah from his simulation…had not been friendly…and he highly doubted Noah should be alive.

Noah nodded. "Yeah…well I count my lucky stars for that I guess." he said as he swallowed the last of his pop tarts and grabbed his cup of cocoa and headed through the simulator room. "Hey wait…where are you going!?" called Luke as he scrambled to get up and follow him.

Noah stopped and turned around with a speed that made Luke nearly trip on his own feet as he nearly ran into his friend. His eyes held determination. "I'm going back…"he said simply before turning around walking past the simulator and towards the stairs that lead to his room.

Luke wasn't sure what he meant till he looked to the yellow orb that had contained EX-caliber. Key word…HAD. When Noah went to get the gunpla and do...something with it, likely tune it, upgrade it, they found that the model was gone. This had confused Noah. He couldn't understand where the model had gone. His only clue…was a midnight black metallic dust that coated the stand.

"What do you mean going back? To bed?" he asked as he followed his friend up the stairs.

Noah shook his head. "No…to my workshop. I need to see if I have enough spare parts to rebuild EX-caliber. Nicol won't hold out in operation spitbreak alone and unless he recruits Dearka and gives him the buster which I pray he won't do…Dearka would just run….anyways the point is I saved him for a reason." He said as he opened a door and Luke finally caught up and gasped. Workshop was an understatement. The room he was looking into was a gunpla equivalent to…well suffice to say if the best chemistry lab in the world and the best old school smith shop had a baby…this lab would be it.

Luke watched Noah walk into the lab and know exactly where he was going. He stood in the doorway and watched Noah tear apart the "workshop". Gunpla riggings flew one way, a tackle box filled with spare parts went the other way. Various things were thrown around the room and Noah became more and more frantic.

Finally he slammed his fist down on his painting desk. "That's right…since the simulation was only going to scan EX-caliber…or was supposed to I used my master works version. Every piece tuned to perfection…even sei Lori would drool at the sight of it. When I was done I threw away all my trashed models and hadn't made spare parts because again…"he said, his fists shaking in rage. "IT WAS ONLY SUPPOSED TO SCAN IT!" he yelled before falling to his knees. His eyes darting all over at the piece of the floor he was staring at.

Luke took a step toward him but Noah held his hand up.

"no…this is good…I can rebuild it…make it better, stronger…and I can even build a blitz…yeah…"Noah began to whisper as he shifted to sit on his rear cross legged, a plan forming in his mind.

Luke had to smile. The look on Noah's face told him even if he had PTSD…he was still the same Noah he was before he became a gundam pilot. He had a plan…and no one would get in his way. He had the same look before every gunpla battle, before any experiment he made. Luke turned around and headed back for the kitchen. He would call his wife, tell her that he needed to stay a few days to watch Noah as the loss of his father had finally gotten to him and he needed help sobering up. While turning Noah into a drunk or anything like it in his wife's eyes was his last intent he knew it'd buy him a few extra days if he needed before she would demand his return.

_Intermission_

Murrue sighed as Mu explained their situation. He held a cup of coffee in his hand. Coffee. When was the last time they had a chance to actually enj…well try to enjoy the military grade coffee?

They had just finished getting the three mobile suits and the mobile armor into the hangar.

The mobeius zero was now out of commission unless Murdoch worked a miracle and converted it to work in atmosphere. But that's a "when pigs fly" scenario. For now Mu was set to start getting familiar with the skygraspers they now were in possession of. Since they were compatible with the striker packs they would be a bit easier for him switch too then just a normal fighter.

Their main problem was that after Nicol had helped them get Kira and Noah from their machines and to the med bay AND move all three mobile suits inside, he HIMSELF passed out. The doctor expected Kira and Noah to survive. Noah somehow had survived similar temperatures as Kira and they were surprised when his blood work finally proved he WAS a natural and yet he was in no worse shape than Kira…well…Kira was essentially knocked out and as the doctor said his body was essentially taking the time to rest and allow him to come back to full health.

Noah on the other hand seemed to be in a coma, no more like in limbo. Stat wise he was healthy aside from a light fever, even lower then Kira's own fever. But brain activity wise…well it wasn't looking like he was waking up anytime soon.

Nicol however the doctor quickly diagnosed as soon as he looked at the green haired coordinator. Exhaustion. It was likely his first time fighting without his team. And the efficiency and lethality he showed with the blitz combined with moving said machine plus two more he was unfamiliar with into the hangar AND having used the blitz to at least get the mobeius zero into position so the mechanics could bring it inside…While the doctor had never done any real medical work on a coordinator the fact Nicol was fast asleep while Kira seemed to be fighting for his life with his own body and Noah was dead to the world almost literally…yeah Nicol was just tired…very very tired.

In other words….they had three mobile suits and a jet along with the ships basic defenses. And until one of the three mobile suit pilots woke up they were down to a jet and their own wits.

Oh…and that's not the worst part. They weren't just deep in enemy territory…no…they were in the desert tigers territory. Yep…3 mobile suits and a jet reduced to just a jet for now…their situation was JUST GREAT.

_Intermission_

Luke watched from the counter of Lori's hobby shop as Noah went to each section and began pulling gundams from the shelf. It had barely been 24 hours out of the simulator that Noah demanded he be driven to the Lori hobby shop as Luke wasn't letting him go anywhere without him lest he had a PTSD accident and get locked up as some kinda gunpla battle nut.

First to hit the counter was a 00 gundam seven sword system/g, master grade, 1/100th scale. The next was another master grade, the 00[t]. This confused him. Most gunpla battle models were made from 1/144th scale models. Yet he seemed focused on using master grades which only came in 1/100th scale. Maybe he found the gunpla quality better?

Either way he glanced to china Lori who was smiling as she was rubbing the rounded belly holding her and the famous sei Lori's first child. It had been years since Luke was last in here so he decided to see what the kind woman seemed so happy about. Thought it certainly seemed Noah's presence had made her even happier.

"How many more months Mrs. Lori? 2? 3?" he asked as he glanced at her belly. The woman giggled.

"4 actually. I know I'm a bit big but sei says it just means a healthier baby." she said as Noah walked up with a master grade deathscythe hell custom and went back, soon returning with a master grade blitz gundam. He stood there for a moment, looking over his selection carefully, like the model…or likely models were forming in his mind. China looks down at the selection and hummed an approval of sorts before waddling around the counter and heading into aisles.

This seemed to pique even Noah's interest as he originally moved to get more models and builder parts but wanted to see what the wife of the famous builder of the "build" series of gundams would pick out for him as she herself had gained a talent for building beautiful gunpla…and making art that was as deadly in a gunpla battle as it was beautiful.

To Luke though, having phased out of gunpla and gunpla battles long ago, he was unsure as to what the woman could add to Noah's own selection. He figured she'd come back with detail parts or decals, something to increase the sale. Not that she was a mischievous woman in that manner just he didn't expect her to know what Noah wanted.

Neither however expected her to waddle back with a stack of boxes. She carefully set them down and took a moment to breathe as she again caressed her belly. After all she had brought back a HG 1/100th scale dynames, a similar scale and grade cherudim HWS model as well as a few various builder parts. Even if they were plastic models…she was pregnant and they likely tired her just balancing them. She then went back around the counter and began to stack the boxes in a specific order, with the blitz and the "007" gundam at the bottom. Once she was done she looked to Noah who seemed to be critiquing her choices and the stacking order.

Luke kept looking between the two. Both world tournament level builders, one married to a multiple tournament champion and world renowned builder. He was confused but he knew it made sense to them. Finally Noah's eyes went wide and he looked up at her with admiration.

She nodded and smiled. A silent dialogue between the builders as Noah again had that look on his face of a plan forming in his head. Soon his speed rivaled a coordinators as he ran to one corner of the store and grabbed paint, came back, looked at the models, and then went back for more paint or another builder's part kit. Once he was satisfied with that he looked to the models and now paint selection. When his brow furrowed china cleared her throat.

Again as if they could read each-others minds and were both seeing the same custom gunpla she reached under the counter and brought out a resin kit for custom parts. Noah looked at it while stroking his chin, looking at the models and build parts and held up 3 fingers. She then did the same and shook her head. Holding up two.

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. She smiled and sweetly said, "Pin vices and scribers." she said which made Noah snap his fingers. "Right…ok 2…"he said before going back to analyzing his purchase list while she grabbed another resin kit.

Luke looked to china and was confused. "How do you…" she stopped him by pointing to a picture of her and sei. "Who do you think beat him in the world championship and made him the builder he is today?" she asked giggling.

Luke's eyes widened. "He never mentioned he fought HIM! I…I sadly couldn't go cheer him due to my second child's birth but…"he blinked when she shook her head and again pointed to the photo. He looked to it and gasped. China was the one holding the world championship trophy and the trophy was right next to it…with her name on it.

"I learned how he thinks when he builds when I taught him. The fact my own built, and I proved it to him, but a gunpla I built beat him, he begged me to teach him since sei had another gunpla showcase tour to go on and he lived nearby. He's also our best customer because of that training." She said as Noah once again left to go search the store for something. "it's obviously second hand training from sei…but he already nearly rivaled my husband in terms of how to make the smallest detail make the biggest difference. I just helped put him on a similar playing field in other areas."

Luke looked to the boxes then her. "So…what IS he building?" he asked as he assumed she WAS seeing the same gunpla or a similar one. China pointed to the blitz which had deathscythe stacked right on top of it as well as the cherudim and dynames.

"A custom blitz, more stealth, maybe recon level? Either way he intends for it to run silent and catch enemies by surprise…a sort of alpha predator if you will give its cloaking." She said before pointing to the other stack.

"And this…is his EX-caliber on steroids. He intends to shed his usual cosmetic damage and gimmicks and just simply make it a hit and run machine. Moves fast and hits hard." She stated as Noah came back and seemed to glare at her while setting a high grade harute gundam on top of the 00 gundams stack along with a few pages of decals on each stack as well as a pack of special paper to print custom decals. She giggled. "Well I can't help it if he asks." she said before Noah finally pulled out his wallet and china could start ringing him up.

"I also want to order a sandrock kai custom conversion kit that includes its anti-beam cloak and have it shipped to the house." he said with all seriousness, as if speaking to a requisitions officer on a ship. China nodded and quickly entered that into her register before continuing to ring him up.

Luke looked to Noah with amazement. He had always known his friend was on a whole nother level when it came to gunpla than him, then again he was barely into it in the first place while Noah was into it even during his time at college learning what let him build his simulator.

And afterwards…the look in his eyes. He had more than acclimated to the status of a gundam pilot….whatever switch had flipped to help him be the pilot he needed to be in there never seemed to switch off. He was determined, like setsuna when he stared at exia or the 00, his eyes screamed one thing…

No one would get between him and whatever goal he had….and he'd use his gundam to do it.

"just what happened over there to make you so determined to go back…and obviously hit hard enough to rock the cosmic era to its core?" wondered Luke as he watched Noah pay for all the items. As Noah took the receipt he thanked china and denied any bags. How could he use bags? He had bought half their build parts selection and even more so he had multiple large boxes.

"Luke…little help here?" Noah asked as he looked to his friend who seemed in a daze while he did his best to balance the entire 00 gundams stack at once and began trying to make his way towards the small shops front door.

Luke shook his head and nodded, biting his lip as he attempted to do the same but was stopped by china who grabbed a few small items and bagged them, motioning for him to lead. Luke nodded and followed Noah out with china behind him.

Once everything was loaded in the trunk of Luke's car they both turned to china who pointed a finger to Noah.

"Now Noah…you better show me what you built when you're done. These look like they`ll be about as custom as the build strike series sei made. If you're really gonna kit bash all those I want to see it BEFORE you do any fighting with it." She said, seeming to chastise him like a mother warning her child about his homework.

Noah smiled. "Don't worry Mrs. Lori. If all goes well…you`ll be the head mechanic on these babies. Plus…"he said as he put his hand on her belly and she blushed. "Your kid will grow up to do more than just BUILD gunpla." he said with a smile, leaving her with a vague idea of just what he was doing.

Noah then went around to the passenger side of the car and got in, waiting for Luke.

Luke looked to china and smile. "Thank you. I`ll make sure to take good care of him." he said before getting in the car and driving away.

She smiled and waved as they left before sighing and returning to the store. One downside of having sei for a husband was if ANYONE wanted to learn how to build gunpla…they wanted to learn from him. She had to admit she missed training Noah…but that also came with the shops location. Once all the hype died down about who's shop it was, even more-so after she won the world championship…it slowly dropped down from being packed daily…to maybe once a week to once a month they had a packed store and it was usually after sei made another appearance on tour…and she was here…alone.

She sighed again as she got behind the counter. What she wouldn't give for another gunpla battle just to relieve the boredom. Deciding to ignore the gunpla before her she set a sign on the counter stating she'd be right back and headed up to the house portion of the store. If she couldn't build or battle…then she'd paint….at least then she wasn't bored.

_Intermission_

Nicol yawned as he slowly awoke, stretching as he did so and stopped when his hands hit a wall. He slowly opened his eyes. He half expected when he felt himself succumb to exhaustion that he'd be back in his cell. Instead as he opened his eyes he noticed there was a different ceiling above him. It was actually the bottom to a bunk bed. He slowly sat up and looked around. He saw two empty bunk beds on the opposite side of the room. He looked down and noticed he was still in his flight suit…and his hands were cuff less.

The amber eyed coordinator slowly swung his legs off the bed and looked around the room. Was he given quarters on the ship? Did saving them from one GiNN really earn him that much trust? Or was it the fact he helped them move the machines inside as well? Though at that thought what else was he to do? If he didn't help them then his blitz wouldn't have gotten inside and likely have been an easy target when watlfeld attacked.

At the thought of the zaft commander Nicol could do nothing more than sigh. He'd be his real challenge here. The blitz couldn't fly, then again the strike could only do so with the aile pack and even then it had to land now and then or else waste its battery. And with him piloting the blitz essentially "FOR" the archangel he would be a HVT now that he was a confirmed enemy.

He looked into the closet where his wardrobe would go and was surprised to find an earth alliance uniform hanging next to his zaft uniform though they were facing each other. He noticed his zaft uniforms…well zaft insignia patch was missing from the shoulder it should have been on and instead had been sewn onto the opposite shoulder of the alliance uniform and something else removed. He then looked around the room once again and found a small tray on the floor next to his bed with a pitcher of water and an already full cup. It also had a note.

Reaching down for the cup and note he took a sip while reading it.

"Dear Mr. Amalfi,

When you wake up I will likely be caring for Kira in the infirmary, but as thanks for saving the ship as well as getting Kira from his mobile suit I thought I should bring you some water for when you wake up. After all the doctor says Kira endured intense heat in his cockpit when he nearly tried attempting re-entry on his own so I'm sure you`ll be thirsty when you wake up after what time you yourself spent enduring some of that heat. The doctor diagnosed you with simple exhaustion and as thanks for saving we captain Ramius ordered you be placed in a proper bunk and given quarters till you wake up.

Again thank you for saving us,

Sincerely,

Crewman second class flay allster.

P.S. Forewarning though there are guards outside your door still but they are more there to escort you to her office when you awake then make sure you don't do something that could harm anyone or endanger the ship. "

Nicol couldn't help but smile. So he was making friends. That was good right? If he was going to adapt to life on this ship, running from his own people with them, then he needed to make friends. Besides, so far his time as a POW amongst them was better then what he was trained to believe. Aside from Noah's death threats they actually seemed…ok with him. Well the tech students did.

Originally they had cowered at him when they ran into him and his escort after he requested time to work on the blitz before the fight in orbit. But this girl was bringing him water and actually gave a damn about his well-being.

He then remembered that he was a mobile suit pilot…something they were meant to have 5 of. Maybe after his show of skill during the battle, which even he could barely believe he pulled off, especially how effectively he used the blitz's mirage colloid to fade in and out of combat like a phantom, but maybe after that they were wanting on his good side.

That made him chuckle. If yzak had heard that thought he'd likely say something to make Nicol feel like he was wrong and that yzak was still the better pilot. If it weren't for a couple of GiNN's drawing his attention he had had a perfect chance to capture yzak. Sure the silver haired coordinator was loud, annoying, had an ego, and was an all-around dick…but if Nicol had a chance he was going to capture him. Noah may not recruit him but at least then he can gloat over the boy about how he had been beaten by a "coward"

But he slowly got up and stretched, careful not to knock over the pitcher of water. He had to admit the bed was comfier then he expected. A zaft vessel hardly counted as a luxury hotel but they were also not short on MS pilots. He expected this was the crew quarters. He figured the G-weapon pilots likely got better quarters and were likely single quarters. He set his glass of water down on a shelf by the head of his bunk and moved towards the closet.

Reaching for the zaft uniform he noticed another note on the earth alliance uniform, this one seemed newer. He pulled it off and shook his head as he chuckled.

"Mr. almalfi, sorry for doing this without your say but I thought it may be easier on some of the crew for you to wear earth alliance colors till Noah can work something out with the captain. So I removed the O.M.N.I. enforcer patch on the uniform and sewed on your zaft patch. Again so sorry for not asking just thought it may save you some glares or a punch or something from someone later.

Miriallia."

Ok…so maybe those kids really weren't so bad for naturals. He slowly and quietly donned the blue and grey uniform and sighed. It was a bit small on him but he decided it was certainly better than being punched or god forbid shot for wearing his zaft uniform.

Once he was dressed he hung his flight suit up and downed the remainder of his cup of water. Time to go meet the captain and make the best of this meeting. After all his quality of life on this ship could depend on it.

_Intermission_

Luke groaned as he looked to the clock before yawning. It was nearly 5 AM when Luke had finally hit the hay in Noah's guest room at midnight when Noah had been building since they got home. He could hear Noah still building down the hall, his "building music" playing loudly while one could also hear him filing and sanding and painting parts. Just what had he unleashed by allowing the gundam pilot to go buy more models? Maybe he should have insisted Noah take a day or two. Or maybe he should have made Noah swear off gundam for good. But only time would tell if the PTSD symptoms were true PTSD or just after effects of the simulation. He hoped to god his friend hadn't actually experienced the zero system and gone insane. His story was ludicrous.

Could someone really use plavsky particles to cross dimensions? To turn minutes into months? The more Noah claimed to have done or experienced the more Luke became concerned.

After all how could he let Noah get back into that simulator if he was just going to go through that all over again? And what if he didn't get put right back in the same spot? What if he went back in ready to have guns blazing and not prepare for things like potential re-entry? To not prepare for rau le creuset's assault? Then endure them all over, worse maybe because he alters his gunpla too much…could Luke really let him risk it?

Luke finally rolled back over and closed his eyes. He'd worry about it in the morning. He had tried to get Noah to stop building even just to eat and it hadn't exactly worked so what would he say to convince him to stop from planning to return? There was no point losing sleep when if Noah truly was a gundam pilot now he likely would be fine…or pass out in there and sleep it off.

Either way Luke himself was soon out like a light and sleeping soundly.

_Intermission_

Murrue looked into Nicols eyes quietly as he did the same. She was still unsure exactly what she was doing. Yes he saved them from a GiNN and had cooperated with Mu in an attempt to capture or destroy the buster…but still he had carved a kill count high enough on both sides in the meantime to make her wary of him till Noah woke up.

One thing in his favor is he wore the earth alliance uniform miriallia had fixed up for him. On one shoulder was the earth alliance symbol, on the other ZAFT. It seemed small on the boy but then again it wasn't entirely meant for him to wear for his own comfort, it was worn so that it would help the crew who were still on edge about him feel more ok with his presence. The zaft symbol being transferred was simply to help him feel better about wearing it.

She sighed and sat back in her chair. "On behalf of this ship I'd like to thank you for rescuing us from that GiNN. I know you were following Noah's orders by not attacking us even if the rest of the earth alliance was your target…but you were never ordered to protect us…merely not attack us." she stated as she watched Nicols reaction.

The green haired coordinator smiled and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath before exhaling and saying, "while saving this ship was not entirely my objective of destroying that GiNN, had I let it destroy you I would have no home to go back to. That GiNN was one of the two remaining missile armed GiNNs. They were my targets." He said, trying to brush off having saved the ship like it was literally a side fact to that GiNNs destruction. But as he opened his eyes he saw murrue smiling and nodded.

"I see…so saving us was just icing on the cake then?" she asked with a smirk to which Nicol nodded. She then sighed herself and sat forward once again. "As you're aware given you stole four of them, our ship was meant to have five G-weapons to complement our ship. Because of that we have extra, empty officer quarters as we had single occupant rooms meant for the pilots." she said as she tried to word this carefully.

"Sadly I can't give you one of those rooms…just yet. Saving us from one GiNN doesn't warrant such treatment sadly. But…I've discussed it with lieutenant commander la flaga and ensign badgiruel, otherwise known as my command staff…and we agreed it does warrant letting you have better quarters then a cell in the brig." she said and she noticed Nicols face light up slightly and she held a hand up to silence any thanks.

"Don't thank me just yet. Guards will still be posted outside your quarters and you will have your own quarters but since we essentially have a skeleton crew for our ship you`ll have the room you woke up in as your own. It's not as comfortable as an officer's quarters but at least it's better than a brig cell." she said with a smile but her tone made it clear there was more to come.

"You will still need to have any work you do on the blitz overseen by at least head mechanic Murdoch or one of the guards. You will be limited to your access of the ship and if you're seen in restricted areas I will let all officers and our soldiers know they are to shoot you on sight still WITHIN THOSE AREAS. Otherwise aside from interacting with the blitz you will no longer need an escort around the ship." She said and finally put her hand down so Nicol could speak.

Nicol blinked. "So…in other words your giving me limited access to the ship, but unsupervised, and I only need 1 guard or the chief mechanic overseeing any time I spend working on the blitz? Also…why do I need to work on the blitz? Isn't that the mechanics job?" he asked and instantly regretted it as murrue's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"Normally that would be true, and while we only have three machines and now a fighter jet…we are still only naturals. We built the blitz and strike so we can do repairs…but anything short of maintenance, re-arming and repair work we can't do due to the fact we also have a small crew of mechanics thanks to a certain squad killing most of our crew members. We only have just above a skeleton crew level of crew members in general. So…if there's any tuning that needs done to the blitz, especially involving the OS, that's your job." She stated as she was wondering if she needed to restrict Nicols access to his machine further.

Nicol suddenly stood at attention and nodded. "Y-yes ma'am. I understand it's my job to keep the blitz maintained…"he said before relaxing when murrue seemed to relax given she realized Nicol was trying to make a decent impression on her. "But…I was wondering…if perhaps if I spoke with Chief Murdoch…I could make some modifications to the blitz? They are minor, I merely had some thoughts after my last sortie. Especially if since now that were are on earth I'll primarily be using the blitz as supportive anti-air likely planted on the ship." he said as he recalled how he had fought using the machines lancer darts.

Murrue blinked. He wanted to modify the machine…to better defend them? She was surprised by everything this boy did….mostly because again he had just been fighting against them until recently. "Um…sure. And I'm sorry we don't have anything for the blitz to support it on earth. This ship was only supposed to land at Alaska to give the data to HQ, then it was supposed to be a solely space bound ship." she said as she contemplated the fact the strike seemed to be the only unit out of them all that would have been capable of truly giving it's all on earth.

Nicol nodded. "It's ok. Without the other G-units….to be honest the blitz isn't very capable on its own, especially in atmosphere. So I'll be fine keeping my former teammates away from the ship." He said before beginning to turn around to leave. "If that's all ma'am I'd like to go discuss the modifications with Chief Murdoch." He said as he was unsure what to do.

She nodded but picked up on his nervousness. She smiled. "Your with Noah's group, you have no reason to salute me or anything. You understand the only reason I have to put such restrictions on you is because of the fact well…we WERE just recently enemies." she stated as she motioned for him to leave.

He nodded and left her office quietly, intent on going to the hangar to discuss those modifications.

_Intermission_

Noah looked down at the bowl of cereal in front of him. He had been barred from his workshop after three days of work. He had barely eaten or drank anything since he began working and he only slept twice and even then only for a short time. So Luke had finally dragged him from the room while he was waiting for some paint to dry on the 00 gundam he was building. He looked up at his friend with a glare.

Luke was standing beside him with his phone out, his thumb on the call button for 911. "Either you eat and drink and take decent care of yourself or I call 911 and explain what all you claim happened in a matter of minutes. You`ll be in a padded cell for some time and I know they`ll care for you." he said as he held up the phone.

"Fine…I'll eat and drink something." said Noah sourly as he began to slowly eat the cereal.

Luke nodded. "Good. Because I have to go home in a couple days and I want to make sure you're taking care of yourself. You`ll get back there in time. It's just a simulation. You can get back to where you were any time." He said as he crossed his arms and looked at Noah seriously.

Noah grumbled but continued eating. Luke had a point. But still he wanted to get back to the archangel as soon as possible. But before he could do that he needed a model to put in the scanner. He began to slow his pace and calm when he remembered he also had to fix the simulator…and find a way to get the new blitz into the simulator as well.

Finally Luke saw Noah seem to relax and eat normally. Maybe he'd get to go home tomorrow. He just hoped Noah would call him before going back in again.

_Intermission_

Noah groaned as he slowly came too. He could heart a heart monitor, and he could hear flay wondering about when Kira would wake up. He tried to remember what had happened last while trying also to not cry out in pain as every bone in his body ached.

He clenched his eyes close for a moment before opening them slowly so as to adjust to the light. He could feel heat…no the warmth of the blanket. His eyes shot open then as he remembered the fight in orbit. He had intended to make a huge difference, maybe save admiral halberton, make sure all the GiNNs were taken out…but he ended up only seeing too a few alliance ships destruction, a single GiNN, and multiple mobile armors. Otherwise rau le creuset had completely derailed his attempt at showing zaft and the E.A. exactly what EX-caliber could do.

And even more so he recalled the near re-entry, how he and Kira had navigated their way to the archangel, and how he had prayed he wouldn't die just before he blacked out.

Finally he slowly sat up and looked to where he saw flay and miriallia discussing Kira's condition. He coughed and tried to get their attention.

Finally after he coughed a second time miriallia turned around and gasped. "Oh my god...NOAH! YOU'RE AWAKE! She exclaimed as she took the two steps to his bed and quickly got him a glass of water from a nearby pitcher. "Thank goodness you're awake. The doctor was getting worried. When he stated you were in a coma he figured it was a worse version of what Kira's going through. But Kira seems to be getting better and you weren't so he thought we may have lost you to your own mind forever." she said as she filled his glass again after he guzzled the first down.

Noah shook his head when he finished his second glass and she offered a third glass. "No I'm fine…but…seriously? I was in a coma?" he asked as he rolled his shoulder with an audible pop.

Miriallia nodded. "Yes…well that's what the doctor said. You were perfectly fine health wise…but you had low brain activity and no one could wake you up." she said as she let Noah get out of bed, forcing him to slowly stand up. "Hey! Take it slow, you just woke up." she said as Noah began heading for the door.

"I need to go check on EX-caliber. It was sure to have taken a beating from that dick…I need to make sure it`s ok." he said, not wanting to tell them he knew of the impending attack given they likely figured it was coming anyways.

Miriallia growled slightly, "fine…I'll just tell the doctor you got up and left when we were supposed to have him check you out before you left." she said which didn't slow Noah down one bit as he left. She sighed and returned to checking on Kira. Hopefully he'd wake up soon. If he didn't...well she hoped EX-caliber worked in atmosphere.

_Intermission_

Nicol was looking up at the blitz. More importantly he was focusing on its trikeros weapons system. Murdoch was working on removing one of the lancer darts. He felt sorry for the older man. He had just convinced Mu to go relax and not fret over the fighter jets and now Nicol was asking him to remove one of his lancer darts so he could examine them. He had two thoughts in mind. One, remove the explosive warhead and instead improve the rocket system on the tail while also adding a wire system to allow them to be easily retrieved.

If that wasn't possible then he wanted to add a magnetic lock system into the main body of them and in the blitz's so he could just activate it when near the darts and not have to focus so much on grabbing them instead catching them as he flew by with the magnets and then work it so they could be re-attached to their rails easier.

He hoped that could be done for at least one of them. He knew the archangel had limited resources and didn't wish to tie them up too much with having them constantly replace the lancer darts.

Finally the hangars crane lowered one of the long missiles in front of him and Murdoch made his way over. Nicol looked to him and sighed. "If you want Mr. Murdoch I can wait till you get some sleep to work on this. I don't plan to join the next sortie unless Noah requires me too or captain Ramius requests it while I work on just how I'll use the blitz effectively in atmosphere." he said which caught the mechanic by surprise clearly.

"Yeah kid if you don't mind I'd like to get a couple hours sleep. I mean there's not too much you can do with this…well except make it explode but the blast won't be big enough to cause any real damage alone…sooooo I guess if you want to look it over, see if you can figure out how to get whatever your planning to work then go ahead. Since you're not physically in the blitz's cockpit I guess I don't need to be here to watch you or to call for a guard. Just remember you need supervision to be in the cockpit." he said before yawning walking away.

Nicol nodded. "Sleep well. I hope commander watlfeld waits long enough you all can get some sleep." he said. It was odd. He meant that with all sincerity. He did hope watlfeld held off his clearly impending attack till these good people….

It was then Nicol realized why he was slowly beginning to actually enjoy his time on this ship. It wasn't that zaft military vessels were strict or anything…but he had always heard how horrible the alliance was to coordinators. Yet here he was…being treated quite well actually. Yes it helped he brought down a few GiNNs and saved them from one…but he was actually getting to know them as well. And they were getting to know him.

Plus with the skeleton crew level of crew members a lot of them were pretty laid back and relax when it came to regulations. Such as not checking to see if Nicol had graduated top of his class in zaft academy in explosives handling…

As Nicol looked at the lancer dart before him he realized he could easily arm the missile, even trigger it's propulsion system and get it to knock out something in here, hell maybe it'd even hit the strike or EX-caliber…

But instead he walked away, seeking out the tools to begin dismantling the weapon and disarming the warhead inside.

It was then he saw Noah walking…well limping slightly into the hangar. He watched him, unsure if he should help him or wait for orders? How did the celestial being chain of command even work? There were two of them…was it just simply Noah was in charge and Nicol was his partner? Or would he plan to recruit more people? Form an actual chain of command?

Just as he took a step to help Noah towards the elevator up the gangplank the alarms in the hangar began to blare.

Watlfeld had launched his attack. Now…really? And Mr. Murdoch had just left to go get sleep. Now Nicol felt even worse as he moved faster to help Noah to his machine. He planned to get a guard to escort him to the bridge. He wanted to watch EX-caliber in atmosphere.

Everyone did…

_Intermission_

Luke waved as he started his car. The last 48 hours showed Noah slowly coming back to his old self. He was still determined to go back but at least he was eating and sleeping normally. Hell he even showered. But he had hung that flight suit up in his workshop, almost as if to remind him of what he was trying to get back to. Either way he felt Noah would be fine and with that wave he drove off, hoping he'd hear from Noah before he decided to go back into that thing.

**Intermission**

**So at the end kinda lost focus, not interest just focus as I tried to wrap things up. **

**I`m sure some of you are wondering why put china in here…and pregnant…and married to sei. Well for one you're likely also confused how Noah got out of the simulator…yet is supposedly knocked out in seed. **

**Here's the answer. This is a double sided chapter…I guess is how to word it. For the seed parts it's simply kinda down time while everyone settles in on earth. It's also the past…technically. So for them and for all intents and purposes, Noah is still in the simulator.**

**The parts in build fighters universe are set after he exits the simulator in chapter one. Don't worry, this won't be a recurring theme. This is just for this chapter.**

**As for why china is pregnant and married to sei? Well…nemesis never stated just when this story takes place for build fighters? So why not have them be old enough to be married, expecting a kid, and having taken ownership of Lori hobbies? Plus I have this sorry habit of making a main female character pregnant in my stories…so I got that out of my system by making her pregnant.**

**Also yes…according to how I see china's relationship with sei going…she'd eventually get epically good at building gunpla and eventually she'd participate in a tournament or two. So…why not have she win one? And have she be the one to beat Noah? And then have her train him in gunpla building? **

**And lastly I'd like to point out that Noah's main weakness is his pride in his skill as a fighter. So being out maneuvered like I had him be with rau is his main weakness. And can you guess what happens next time he gets out maneuvered? Re-read what I said about the simulator. It's a good hint as to what happens. **

**Also…lol this is my actual last comment. As I said EX-caliber and Noah are not invincible. That will be shown in a couple episodes when my second OC and Noah's eventual love interest debut on the battlefield. Also there's a reason EX-caliber wasn't in the scanning ball thing…**

**Anyways, read, review, and express your thoughts on the story. **

**Till next time, happy building.**


	7. gods can bleed

**I do not own the rights to Gundam Seed, 00 or Gundam Build Fighter/Try. All characters that are not mine or owned by their respective series creators. Please enjoy**

**Defend your beliefs**

Flay whined slightly as the alarms blared and Kira got out of bed. She had to admit she had no idea what came over her. All she knew was…by doing this…It made that warmth go away. But as she curled up in the blanket, taking in Kira's scent…she couldn't help but begin laughing with tears streaming down her face as Kira left. The knowledge he was going to protect them kept him going right? No…he wasn't going to protect them. As much as he thinks it with what they had just done…no. now he was going to save her. And she couldn't help but smile cruelly at that thought.

This though made her frown as that confusion came back and she slowly sat up, one hand using the blanket to cover her chest, the other holding her head. Why? Why did she want him to protect JUST her? It was flattering sure…but she wanted him to protect her simply to make him fight. She thought…she thought maybe if she slept with him it might help this confusion, like nature was using her body to enforce some cosmic desire for him and her to be together. No…while she did feel better. The confusion was still there.

"Why? Why is it when I think of him protecting JUST me…I feel such anger…and yet…"she sniffled slightly. "I can't stop crying. I can't help but feel what I'm doing is horrible…but it's what I want." she shook her head. "NO! I don't want Kira to fight. He fought enough…daddy is safe, and Noah and Nicol could fight for us. So…" she pulled the blanket away from her slightly. "So…why can't I feel any real joy in this? Why do I feel like I did this purely to manipulate him? Why…why….WHY AM I SO CONFUSED?!" she exclaimed as she fell back in bed and cried, sobbing as she could still smell him. Part of her wanted him here, next to her, sleeping, safe….hers. But another part wanted him out there, fighting…like she didn't want him to come back. Like she wanted him to die while taking as many coordinators with him….and that thought made her cry even more.

_Defend your beliefs_

Noah grunted as he fell back into his pilot seat. As soon as Murdoch came in he told him and Nicol to get into standby mode. So he closed his cockpit and the pedestal for the GP-base rose up from the floor. Placing it he groaned as he closed his eyes. His body ached, why? Was it the heat he had endured? Was it the zero system trying to keep him here? Or maybe that fight with rau rattled him in a different way then he thought.

Either way as the plavsky particles washed over him and formed the controls he strapped himself in. he just prayed the zero system had already fixed EX-calibers OS to account for the sand. Otherwise he was screwed.

Finally he began moving EX-caliber towards the catapult. He saw Kira enter the hangar as he did so. Hopefully Kira hadn't slept with flay. Or if he did for god's sake he hoped flay wasn't becoming the manipulative bitch she was in the series. That would just suck.

He stood EX-caliber behind the airlock the launch system and sighed as he opened a channel with the bridge.

He saw miriallia and raised an eyebrow. "Why am I not being allowed to launch?" he asked as he saw her glaring at him.

"Because the doctor never cleared you. Nicol is the only one captain Ramius wants launching and even then no launch orders have been given. So I suggest you re-dock EX-caliber and go lay down." she said as she tried to convince Noah to back down.

He smirked. "I'm only heading to bed if your gonna join me girlie…."he said with a chuckle and a grunt as his ribs ached. She gasped and glared at him harder but chuckled when he grunted at his rib pain. "See…this is why you let doctors examine you before you pilot mobile suits." she said and he stuck his tongue out.

"Open the damn door or I'll cut it open." he said as he looked at her to see if she'd finally let him through.

She looked back to listen to the captain and he expected her to be allowing him to launch.

A moment later he was proven right as the launch doors opened. "Thanks Mir." he said teasingly as she groaned and closed the com channel. He locked himself into the catapult and waited.

Since EX-caliber was an unknown to them they usually just made sure the magnetic rails were charged to a safe level without over doing it with the machine set to launch. None of the usual "transferring timing controls" or "power supply…" stuff was ever said to him. He just sat, waited for the all clear, and launched….

Like now. He got the all-clear and soon felt himself get forced back into his chair.

He groaned as he heard the GN drive spin up behind him as he was launched in the air and he tried to soften his landing.

To both his and his bones disappointment…EX-caliber was not prepped to stand in sand. It began to sink the moment it landed though it soon stopped as the feet shifted and found somewhat solid, compacted sand deep below. Still this would need to be fixed.

At least the E-carbon would hold against the missiles….missiles?

Noah groaned loudly as his machine was rocked by the helicopters missiles and they began to surround him. He needed to get his machine fixed and fast. So…he decided to treat this like a gunpla battle and brought up the holographic keyboard in his lap as well as the gunpla battle OS set up in the cockpit. It may not be a gunpla battle map…but still he knew how to at least adjust his machine for those. Hopefully it would work either way.

As he began to type away at the keyboard he was at the mercy of the helicopters, so first thing he did was re-route plenty of GN particles to the entirety of his gundam so as to strengthen the E-carbon and hopefully keep it in tact.

Once that was done he set about altering his OS to account for the sand or find a way around it.

_Defend your beliefs_

"There it is…EX-caliber right? That's the mystery machine that commander le creuset battled in orbit right?" asked DaCosta, commander watlfeld's XO as he turned to face his commanding officer.

Andrew nodded. "Yes it appears it is. I`m curious just how well it moves on earth. In space it seemed to move like it was in water. Let's see how it performs on earth." he said as he took a sip of his coffee. The coffee was grade A…so tonight's fight should be the same. "Come on EX-caliber…every fight seems to cause you to reveal some new trick up your sleeve. Let's see if you have any more aces to save yourself with." he whispered.

_Defend your beliefs_

Noah ground his teeth as he was rocked by more missiles. It seemed to confuse the helicopters, as the strike was finally launched in launcher configuration, how he just sat there and took the missiles. Finally his OS rang as it completed adjusting the machine for him.

With that he looked up and saw a helicopter hovering in front of him, but it was aiming past him. At the strike no doubt. He slowly raised his right arm and left the sword in its stowed position. The helicopter never noticed and never saw the red flash as he pulled the trigger on his rifle mode once, releasing a single red ball of death that destroyed the small flying vehicle.

Like his first entrance everything stopped as EX-caliber stood up finally with a hydraulic hiss from its joints and its GN drive began to pour out more particles. Well…not EVERYTHING stopped. Kira was stopped due to the sand, the remaining two helicopters though turned to focus on him but did nothing, likely stunned that the so far mainly CQB machine had a gun on it.

Feeling confident in his suits abilities now he pushed his accelerator and began to rise above the sand. Not boost up, not jump. Just…rise. Like the exia in episode one of gundam 00 he rose off the ground and hovered there. With that his right arm snapped up and he aimed his GN repeater at the helicopters. They scrambled to move but before they could he let loose a flurry of red death. Right as the helicopters exploded though the Bu-CuEs that watlfeld brought with him launched over the side of the dune. One of them managed to land on EX-caliber, forcing it into the sand….with its GN drive down.

"Shit…this isn't good. If I get a bunch of sand in there it`ll take weeks to clean out….I think" He said as he pushed his accelerator further while the Bu-Cue stomped down on his torso with its foot, trying to push him further into the sand. "that's…not…happening…ASSHOLE!" yelled Noah as he pushed the B-Cue off him with his shield and as he rose he managed to push it into the path of the Bu-CuE Kira kneed with the strike as he fixed it's OS.

Noah got his gundam standing up right and watched as Kira beat back a Bu-CuE with the butt of the Agni cannon and proceeded to slam his foot down on its chest before firing the Agni cannon into its chest at point blank range. Noah had to admit…he felt bad for that pilot. He always had since they had re-mastered seed with altered scenes…but…hey at least it wasn't heero with wing zero going berserk right?

For the moment though he turned his attention to the Bu-CuEs in front of him that were currently on their backs trying to get upright with their movement forcing them further and further into the sand.

_Defend your beliefs_

Kira grunted as he hit the sand with the strike. He had seen as he landed that EX-caliber had sunk into the sand and he was confused as to why the agile machine had fallen…till he himself landed. Now he was trying to figure out why the strike wouldn't stand up straight.

At least for now the helicopters weren't focused on him. So he took that moment to bring down the keyboard and enter the strikes operating system and began trying to fix the problem with the sand. Halfway through though he was alerted to missile lock ons and looked up….all three helicopters were aimed at him. It seemed the other gundams armor was too strong for them to penetrate with missiles.

"Oh crap…gotta move…"he said, trying to get the strike to jump in time to dodge the missiles. Just as he launched though he noticed an explosion and looked to EX-caliber. It had its right arm pointed at where one of the helicopters had been. The other two turned to figure out what happened and as Kira landed he saw a flurry of red bolts fly from behind the swords shield and destroy the helicopters.

So it had a gun hidden under the shield. It made sense why the sword stowed away even in combat now. As he landed though he found his corrections to the operating system hadn't been complete as while the strike originally stood its ground, the moment he tried to react to Bu-CuEs that came at them over the dunes it faltered and slide in the sand…again. He growled and tried firing the Agni cannon at a couple of the Bu-CuEs but found his aim more than completely off.

With this in mind he launched himself once more and in mind flight brought out the computer and began to fix the OS once again.

By the time he landed he had put the keyboard away and found the strike standing perfectly on the sand. He smiled at his work but couldn't revel in it for two long. A Bu-Cue came charging at him seeming to have the intent to tackle him down as he noticed one had done to EX-caliber.

With the suit now functioning properly on the sand he brought one of the strikes knees up and struck the wolf like mobile suit in the head, knocking it back onto its back in the sand. Had he continued watching he would have seen it try to get up only to have Noah shoved another Bu-CUE on top of it.

Kira found himself about to be tackled by a second machine and growled as he brought the butt of the Agni cannon into its face this time, knocking it onto its back by him. He turned around and planted the strikes foot on its chest. As he leveled the Agni cannon with it he stated, "I will not let you destroy the archangel."

With that he fired point blank on the machine and destroyed it.

_Defend your beliefs_

The show had been good originally but Andrew was amazed at what he saw now. When he saw EX-caliber get stuck in the sand he had been worried all the hype about the machine was for nothing. But now as it lifted itself off the ground once again he was more than excited to see it fight. From what he understood the pilot mainly used its sword. And to find out it had a gun build into the sword…he was even more amazed at its construction.

Of course he was also watching the strike. But to see them both adapt and now both easily handling the Bu-CUE's he was worried the show would end too soon. He turned to DaCosta. "DaCosta, radio the Lesseps, tell them to fire their main cannons." He stated before going back to his show. He wanted to see how the ship and its machines would react to this attack.

He was ignoring the fact the blitz had yet to show up. Zaft had all the data on it and its pilot. After all he was a former zaft pilot and the machine had been captured by zaft long enough to get plenty of data off it. So he wasn't too concerned by the lack of the stealth machine.

"Also…DaCosta…call in the new machine…"said Andrew as he glanced at his phone and went over the info he had on EX-caliber. He hoped the machine they had received a few days prior incase EX-caliber had shown up on earth could put a dent in it.

DaCosta raised an eyebrow as he looked to him. "Sir…that machine has barely any sort of an operational time. EX-caliber could easily out maneuver it…" DaCosta stated as he tried to figure out his commanders reasoning. The sun was also coming up…it wouldn't help them or hinder EX-caliber.

Watlfeld just threw him a glare. "Do it…he wants to fight him…and it`ll be a good test of EX-calibers abilities." He stated to which DaCosta nodded and got on the radio.

_Defend your beliefs_

Noah couldn't help but smile as he hovered over to the two Bu-CUEs and landed in front of them. They were both just about to get back on their feet finally when Noah skewered the two of them together with his GN blade three. He drew the blade back out and jumped back, using the GN drive to float back a bit further before landing.

He was satisfied with how he fixed his machine. Not as good as Kira since he went through the gunpla battle interface which just meant identifying the problem, essentially making a ticket of sorts, and letting the OS and the zero system sort it out. It was cheating yes but he didn't truly have access to the OS of the gundam without his gunpla scanner so he couldn't fix that himself.

He turned to see Kira trying to hit the last machine. It seemed to be a tad faster than the others and he was worried about Kira's use of the Agni cannon. But then he noticed the yellow balls in the air indicating the cannon shells flying towards the archangel.

He cursed himself. He had forgotten about the Lesseps. "shit…ok…let's try this…"he said and before Kira could enter seed mode and try to stop the round Noah flew up at maximum thrust and zigzagged between the four circles.

As he hovered in the air it was unclear just what he had done. Till the four circles became 8 and all 8 pieces of the now split shells overshot or just missed the archangel.

With that act he looked down to see the desert dawn group scare off a new wave of choppers and the lone Bu-CUE. So cagalli could still show her face. He wasn't sure if cutting the battles time basically in half by destroying the two Bu-CUES she'd still have a reason to show up.

As he watched the strike run off to follow Kira's sisters instructions he turned towards where the cannon rounds came from…destroy it now….or later? He wasn't sure. A hail from miriallia made his mind up for him. He answered it and listened to her.

"Noah, captain Ramius wants you to come back and stick close to the ship. With the rebel fighters here she wants you over here incase anything happens." she stated. He nodded and glanced back in the direction of the Lesseps. Next time baby…

He moved back to the archangel and hovered in front of the bridge in case the Lesseps fired again, the GN sword three swinging back to lock into its stowed position. From there he waited to see what would happen next.

That unfortunately came all too soon as the moment he had to thrust forward the moment he landed and raised both shields, gritting his teeth as his suit was hit with multiple types of rounds, once again causing him to feel the soreness his body was enduring.

2 rail gun shells hit him just below the knee, a beam rifle shot hit his main shield, and two large beams just barely missed his head unit and flew just over the archangel's bridge while a series of machine gun rounds pounded both his shoulders while two more lines passed him and barely missed the archangel.

That barrage…it was different but…he recognized it. The freedom. But…it should still just be in its construction phase. So…what was attacking them now?

Then he saw what attacked them. He had to zoom in on it but it was moving fast. And what he saw worried him…but also made him laugh slightly…

_Defend your beliefs_

Heine westenfluss couldn't help but grin as he sat in his guaiz. It was an interesting one though. While most of the guaiz were still prototypes, this one was even more of one. Its production was expedited due to EX-calibers appearance and he was chosen as its pilot.

The machine was grey though, like the GAT series prototypes. The YFX-600R GuAIZ EFT or experimental fire arms type. He was proud to call the machine his as it was a prototype test bed for some advanced, new line of machines RND was thinking up.

He didn't care.

He just cared about the fact the machine was fast, powerful, and had new tech no one had seen. Though he heard rumors of a "test bed" that was even stronger than his. Faster too. He guessed that was why he had seen that silver haired girl playing a handheld video game system in the hangar. The machine was even in the testing phase for itself let alone the tech it was testing. But the archangel and EX-calibers survival and landing on earth made them ship out the machine early.

He was then hailed on the radio. "Heine here…yeah she's ready…yeah…roger that, I'm heading out." he stated as he powered up his machine. As he did so he hit the phase shift armor activation button and the machine went from a dull grey to a bright orange he had dubbed "ignition orange"

He was then given clearance to leave the Lesseps and he took off, flying towards the legged ship. But it wasn't his target. His primary mission was to engaged EX-caliber and use his massive amount of firepower to overwhelm it and disable or destroy it. Only tips he got…try and hit the shiny cone on its back and that they just learned of a ranged weapon in the sword.

The GuAIZ EFT was armed with a pair of xiphias railguns at its hips, new tech, and a powerful new railgun, along with the lupus beam rifle. It was an upgraded variant to the intended beam rifle for the GuAIZ. A new pair of beam sabers were mounted atop the rail guns. The "Lacerta" beam sabers would connect to be double ended or simply make a longer handle. Finally it had a set of "picus" CIWS in its head again similar to the GAT series.

Then there was the backpack it had. This pack would allow it to have continuous flight even in atmosphere though an experimental system known as the "DRAGOON" system would allow him to detach the pack and either use it as a flight platform or remotely fly it to gain an advantage on his opponents. The pack also carried a pair of large white cannons and four small barrels with two flanking the cannons on each side.

The white cannons where it's new "fortis" beam cannons. these cannons could be used as a rapid fire beam cannon or at the cost of more power he could fire a pair of large beams from them.

Finally in his arsenal were the packs four "volucris" machine guns. These were mainly meant to be extra AA fire when he was riding it.

But as he neared the legged ship he found the battle almost over due to rebels supporting the archangel. He glared at them on his monitor and was tempted to obliterate them with his arsenal….but that would be too much energy wasted…and this suit was a power hog.

So instead he opened up the suits expanded targeting system and began to lock onto EX-caliber. Once he found himself locked onto the target he opened up with everything he had. He wanted to catch the machine by surprise.

And clearly he did. He also had the fortune of having the archangel as a secondary target in his firing pattern so EX-caliber couldn't just dodge his shots like it likely would have it had to block.

He looked to his battery gauge and smiled. He still had half a battery left…so he pulled out one of the Lacerta beam sabers and charged the seemingly unbeatable machine who looked to be doing that itself.

This…would be fun.

_Defend your beliefs_

The experimental "sub gundam" as he called prototypes like this and the strike, Made Noah laugh as he brought his GN sword 3 up to block his beam saber. The machine had an average battery life of five minutes with its phase shift armor on and its energy weapons in use.

So…all he had to do was draw out the fight and the machine would run out of power, forcing it to back off and retreat or allow him to destroy it.

To think this was the best the zero system could pull out of its knowledge of gundam seed in order to challenge him….the astray red frame would have been a far better choice.

As the machine boosted back before drawing it's rifle in its free hand and firing off a couple shots Noah brought up his shield, finally giving up on hiding it in anymore fights and deciding to make life easier for him by utilizing it.

When the prototype charged again while he brought down the shield he hit his accelerator and launched himself up, knowing the machine had nowhere near the speed the freedom or justice had. When he turned around he swung his sword back into its stowed position and intended to end things there with a well-placed shot but instead he had to bring up his GN shield again as he found himself attacked in a rapier fashion as the machine began to thrust the sword again and again, Noah blocking each time…

till finally the machine managed to break his defenses and his beam saber dug into Noah's waist, grazing the cockpits door on the left side as the machine threw it's gun to the side and drew it's second beam saber and performed another thrusting maneuver with the second saber and getting into Noah's defenses before he could shift his shield to block.

Noah screamed in pain as a piece of the door broke off and flew past him. Tearing the left side of his helmet open the small shard of E-carbon also left a sizable gash in his cheek. He reached up to hold the injury and closed his eyes as his right hand held his helmet against his head. He had already forgotten he was in a gundam fight, his life was in danger…and by releasing his control balls the gundam died.

Well not literally but the GN drive cut out on producing particles to keep it in the air, both arms fell to the side and Heine was ecstatic...but he never got to make his final move.

Noah also never noticed the shard of E-carbon that had dug into the back of the cockpit seem to shatter like a computer game and fade away in a mix of green and blue particles.

_Defend your beliefs_

Heine knew the key to beating EX-caliber was to throw it off its game. He saw how rau le creuset had trashed the machine before just by a simple outmaneuver forcing the pilot to rethink his strategy. So he planned to throw the pilot a curveball.

With no shield he had no way to block other than sword to sword. So when the near god machine blocked his sword with his own he brought up his lupus beam rifle and fired a few shots off. As expected his shots were blocked by the larger shield on the left arm but he expected him to lower his shield to try and boost forward to spear him with his sword or something so he beat him too it, gunning his engines forward he tried using the beam saber like a rapier and tried to hit him with a strong thrusting attack.

Unfortunately the machine apparently still moved like he did in space as he seemed to simply "jump" up as if weightless enough to stand on air.

Now knowing about his ranged gear though he knew what the pilot planned and he spun around and without thinking gunned his engines to perform yet another strong thrust. He hit the machines shield but the pilot seemed rattled as he followed it up with another and another.

He smiled. Here it was. As EX-caliber brought it's shield down and swung out to try and bat his rifle away instead he threw it to the side and activated his second saber, drawing it and at the same time thrusting past the shield at an angle to try and drive the saber into the miracle machines left shoulder to try and kill it's use of its strong shield.

Instead the machine shifted up and he grazed the gut of the machine, specifically slashing into its side, even coming close to stabbing into the cockpit. He bit his lip and worried he had just signed his death wish as he was in perfect striking distance, hell he was looking directly at the now visible 3 barrels surrounding the "hilt" of the blade.

Instead the arms of the machine dropped to its side, and he could almost see the machine gain weight as it began to fall. Did he hit the pilot somehow? Did he damage major systems? What all did he do?

He pulled his arm back and moved to stab his right arm into EX-calibers cockpit but not only at that moment did his power run out, killing the violet blade in his hand right as it would have pierced the cockpit, but on top of that he grunted as his machine was rocked by something hitting him from behind and he soon found himself flung into the stand.

_Defend your beliefs_

As the blitz launched Nicol activated his phase shift armor. Unlike Kira or Noah, Nicol landed perfectly fine on the sand, having rapidly updated his operating system to account for the sand after being told to sortie by the guard keeping watch as he sat in the blitz.

Once again he could not help but think how easy killing them all would be…but found himself unable to turn on them now. He surveyed the area and was curious as to why he had been launched. He tried to find Noah and gasped when he did. He launched the blitz as best he could and moved closer to their fight. It was a new model as well, one Nicol was unaware had been constructed. As he got under them he noticed Noah's defensive opening as the shield swung to bat away the rifle when there now was no rifle to hit and watched as the new pilot took advantage of it.

He watched as Noah tried to move away but it was too late. He merely made the strike avoid his cockpit but instead, like Kira's attack on yzak…it struck close.

Knowing he needed to rescue Noah he did the first thing he could think of. The blitz had launched without its trikeros weapons system as he planned to modify it, instead he held the strikes rifle in his right hand. But instead of using that he threw his left arm up and launched the glepnir rocket anchor and opened the claw in an attempt to catch the machine.

He smiled when the claw grappled the machines backpack right as it turned grey. "So it has energy consumption problems…"he whispered as he analyzed the machine while activating the anchors rockets as it fell to basically throw the new machine to the ground.

Right as it hit the ground he released it and retracted the anchor and began running towards the machine as EX-caliber fell near it. He was about to focus on capturing the machine when he got a SOS from Noah.

Not even a message came with it so instead he moved towards his new commanding officer.

When he reached it he looked to his radar and saw a ZAFT convoy coming to retrieve the new unit. So he dropped the rifle and hoisted the gundam up and began moving him towards the archangel.

He hoped Noah was ok. The damage to EX-caliber seemed minor so he hoped nothing had happened to the enigmatic pilot.

_Defend your beliefs_

Noah was now lying in bed in the infirmary. His cheek was bandaged up and he was strapped down to the bed with an IV and a full monitor set up.

The cut on his cheek had been deep, but not deep enough to cause any damage to his mouth. He'd have a nasty scar but that was it. The IV had a minor sedative to force him to sleep and rest in his bed.

Meanwhile Nicol was helping Murdoch and his crew try to make sense of the gundams damage. Zaft had carried away the new unit and it's rifle, actually leaving the strikes rifle and any chance to get some of EX-caliber's armor to reverse engineer or something, even ignoring the fact the archangel was basically letting them retrieve their new unit so Nicol and the mechanics had decided to take a quick look through the shifting sands to try and fine anything worth salvaging, if anything, of EX-calibers damage.

As far as they knew even in the short time they took to get everything stowed away and get out there the sand already covered up the likely significantly sized chunks of the mystery metal. Instead they did manage to find splinters…of sorts. They had actually found a small bowls worth of shavings of…something that had the same color as the gundams armor which was hard enough to find. But...when they scanned it it came up as plastic, and not even a plastic compound known to man.

So as Nicol tried to hack into the "G-base" Noah used as a key to start the gundam and essentially a smart phone Murdoch scratched his head as his team worked on the strike and blitz's maintenance.

"I don't get it...a gash that big would leave at least a few good sized chunks of metal. Instead all we find is random bits of plastic..."he said. his boys were itching to look at the wiring under the machines armor, even try taking apart that one section…but he told them to wait for now. Not exactly to wait for Noah. No this damage HAD to be fixed. But at least till he had some idea of what to do.

Finally Nicol seemed to perk up as he accessed files that had been originally locked away, something had been hiding them almost till it finally gave up. But this had him confused. They were stats and data on EX-caliber, even a blueprint…but the way it all read…EX-caliber should be a plastic model. This was data for a…the files seemed corrupted as almost anything relevant to the design and creation of EX-caliber not only did not ONCE mention celestial being but it also seemed to "black ink" anything related to a "gunpla battle OS" as that was the title of the file he had first read.

Murdoch walked over, curious as to the coordinator boys find. He saw the schematics and raised an eyebrow. "he must have made this when he was a kid…it explains how he knows so much about the machine, probably designed it as some child prodigy with 3D model rendering. I mean it gives us an idea how it was made and works…but…hey what the…" Murdoch and Nicol both blinked when the small device seemed to seize up before once again locking them out.

They looked to each other than to the EX-caliber. Just what was this machine and who or what was Noah.

_Defend your beliefs_

Flay panted lightly as Kira shifted to lay beside her. After the battle Kira had made a b-line back to her and they proceeded to tumble around in the sheets. Near the end flay had had what felt like a flash back. Not like déjà vu but as if it was a memory she forgot.

She was on the bridge, again screaming for lacus' death as the battle in space came about. It was like being a prisoner in her own body as she waited for Noah to come save the day…to come save daddy….

But he never did. Kira had tried his hardest but ultimately failed. Finally lieutenant badgiruel had called for the cease fire.

Then she remembered Kira leaving for the fight in orbit. She remembered holding that little girls hand, telling her that Kira would protect them. She had begun to cry inside as she watched her nearly crush the little girls hand as she again felt that rage that usually lead to the warmth to which brought her here.

She even heard herself whisper how once he had killed all the coordinators then he could finally die and join her father…and how then and only then she'd forgive him.

Then she was back to their first night together. She remembered laying there, emotionless, letting the teen enjoy himself with the girl he had had a crush on for years. She didn't care. She just wanted him wrapped around her little finger.

Finally she came back to reality as she had felt Kira finish and she cried silently, letting the exhausted pilot sleep.

Was it a past life? An alternate life? What was that she saw? It was like a "what would have happened if Noah never showed up" flashback.

She finally rolled onto her side to face away from Kira and just sobbed. She was so confused, so conflicted…and still Noah was at the center. But why? Why if he was the core of things was she lying in bed, naked, next to Kira? Why not Noah? Why was he not the one she wanted?

She finally got up and simply threw her uniform coat over herself, her eyes somber and screaming of near suicidal confusion and depression. With that she quietly left Kira's quarters and went to find Noah. She was going to get an answer out of him one way or another, to the point she was running on tunnel vision as she walked into the mess hall and got a knife from the silverware section, and, with her jacket barely covering anything, walked past a group of crew members and left them slack jawed while continuing her hunt for the blonde gundam pilot.

_Defend your beliefs _

Murrue sighed as she fell back into her chair in her office. Meeting the local rebels had been…interesting. Especially when they inquired about EX-caliber. More importantly a fact the man called Ashman had pointed out…

"That machine that fended off zafts new toy…that was the machine called EX-caliber am I correct?" he asked as his group turned away towards the jeeps.

Murrue nodded. "Yes…how do you know?" she asked and he laughed.

"I bet there isn't a single member of zaft or the earth forces or any other rebel groups that don't know about the "angel of death"." he stated as he looked to the hangar. "Though one could easily chalk him up to a god of war. The battle this morning though has shown he has one fatal flaw." he said which made murrue gasp.

He turned to her with a stern look in his eyes. "Your pilot THINKS he is a god of war. When that theory is truly tested he becomes unbalanced. When he is unable to counter attack he loses focus. We intercepted footage from the earth alliance of his battle with rau le creuset. The commander did the same thing the new unit did today. A single out maneuver along with constant attacks and your pilot seems to lose his fighting ability."

Murrue gasped once again. She had never noticed it. She only knew that compared even to the strike, even when Kira seemed to become an ace pilot for a short time, EX-caliber made it seem like it could destroy anything in the cosmic era. The speed with which it moved, the fluidity of how it didn't waste a single second of time in each attack, the power he showed in its physical blade…and she had not once thought he may be too arrogant or proud to realize he was not as strong as everyone made him out to be.

"they call him the angel of death simply because once he got away from rau le creuset he inflicted as many casualties in a matter of a few minutes as three GiNN pilots combined along with slaughtering all but the ships and prototypes zaft had on the field…and the fact his group is known as "celestial" being. But still…"he once again looked to the hangar doors.

"He thinks he's invincible…yet doesn't see his machine breaking under the stress he puts on it. When you have a chance you should have your mechanic clean it. Sand tends to gather in cracks and can ruin the inner workings of almost anything." He said vaguely before turning around to join his people.

…she sighed and grabbed the water bottle on her desk and took a sip. She was waiting on a report from Murdoch. Just what had he meant by sand gathers in cracks?

_Defend your beliefs_

"Oh crap! Are you serious? Look at all this!" yelled a mechanic as he turned off the hangar lights and only shown a few onto EX-caliber. He turned the rest of the lights on and looked to Chief Murdoch who looked worried as he rubbed his grizzly stubble.

"Well kid…any luck getting those schematics back up?" he asked, looking to Nicol who was fiddling with the G-base again.

The green haired coordinator shook his head. "No…in fact whatever locked me out before seems to have doubled its efforts if it's even possible. Though every now and then it has a few glitches and I read a word here like tallgeese. Or another was an actual sentence of gibberish except it mentioned a "launcher strike" I don't know…"he said as he looked up to the mechanic. He had decided modifying the blitz was not important right now and had re-armed the blitz along with replaced the lancer dart in its shield.

What everyone was suddenly worried about was EX-caliber. After turning off all the lights and highlighting the machine they had found numerous cracks in its armor. They were minor, but sand was indeed starting to build up on it as it shown in the light against the black and red armor. Murdoch personally had even taken a glance into the GN drives open ports. The GN drive glistened with particles that settled on it after use but after it took a dive in the sand the drive had also accumulated a good amount of sand in the visible gears.

The chief mechanic had no clue what to do. He had no idea what maintenance could be done, how to fix the machine…and with Noah out cold in the infirmary and Nicol unable to get the schematics back up…the deadly machine would have to handle its scars and hope that the GN drive didn't seize up due to the sand. Well…that he could try to fix. He wouldn't go too in depth but he could have his crew clean out the drive and clean the cracks as best they could

Other than cleaning it though…EX-caliber would be a wounded fighter till Noah told them what to do.

…the mechanic prayed whatever happened in this fight was a one time fluke.

Defend your beliefs

Dearka sighed as he listened to his commander explain that they'd be stuck on earth.

"…help hunt down the legged ship and EX-caliber. Remember though we have no idea how that machine may move in atmosphere. So don't go in expecting it to move like a sack of bricks….one more thing." he said, deciding it was best to inform Dearka of this at least as he would at least listen.

"EX-caliber seems to have some sort of defensive system in it similar to your phase shift armor. When I fought it it seemed to almost power down while each strike I made felt like it was having less and less effect. While I doubt this means you can wear down its armor, a focused attack may weaken its power output to the rest of its armor and allow for it to be brought down. Sadly that's all I can inform you of for the moment. Good hunting and if you get the chance please…don't hesitate to shoot them down yourself." he stated before getting off

Dearka sighed once again. "So in other words we have to stay down here on earth and work with the occupation forces? Why can't we just return to space? Let the occupation forces handle things?" he asked though as he did so a woman walked up and set a snow white helmet down on the computers desk.

He looked up and smirked. "Guess it's not so bad…at least there's a few hot chicks down here." He said as he looked to the woman. She had long white hair, almost a snow white like her helmet. She was sweating and taking a sip from her water bottle as she clearly had just come likely from a patrol or a test flight of her machine.

She wore a snow white combat suit which had some sort of emblem on it. For a moment he didn't recognize it but he had to keep himself from standing and saluting. It was a faith emblem, though it had been made black to stand out on her uniform.

That meant she was the cream of the crop for zaft pilots, something him, yzak, hell even Nicol had aspired to. She likely had operational authority here, maybe even a custom GiNN.

Her green eyes met his and she glared at him. Her well sized breasts passed by his face as she bent down to be close to him. "Look but don't touch space boy…I'm not some piece of ass impressed by your red suit. You think your hot shit because you pilot the buster? Good luck keeping up with me in that tin can." she stated before walking away.

She had intended to ask them their names and learn if he and yzak were…well him and yzak but she began heading towards her machine which was getting maintenance done after a training flight she had just finished. From what she had heard of Dearka elsman and both his appearance and his personality…it was him she had just clearly insulted. Not that she cared.

More importantly her left Vernier had glitched mid-flight and nearly failed. She needed the power output changed on it as she figured it likely had been given too much energy and nearly shorted out.

Dearka meanwhile just whistled. He had to admit…the fact she stopped him dead in his tracks before he could start flirting caught his interest. But then again she was a member of faith. The custom flight suit, likely custom machine. If they sortied with her she'd be their CO for sure unless athrun showed up.

He noticed yzak reaching behind his head and he nearly jumped out of his seat. "Hey yzak take it easy!" he yelled before yzak got his bandages off his head and glared at the wall. "If we have the chance? No…next time we meet…I WILL shoot down the strike. He owes me for this damn scar…"he growled.

_Defend your beliefs_

Nina sighed as she sat in the cockpit of her machine. She wiped a bead of sweat off her cheek as she worked on her OS. The experimental machine she piloted needed constant maintenance, more so even then the EFT GuAIZ. Hers literally was shipped here with her the moment it was off the assembly line, so it needed tweaks here or a part modified there. It was also bigger than the duel or the buster, both in terms of armor and actual height. There was a reason for this as well as a reason the OS was so faulty…

The machine had a nuclear reactor in it along with a prototype for a device known as an "N-jammer canceler" but…it was a prototype that was brand spanking new off the assembly line and meant she rarely had time to eat, sleep, and do anything else in between test flights. She was already told she'd be working with watlfeld if the EFT GuAIZ couldn't bring down EX-caliber when they hit the legged ship.

It held a large circular shield on its left arm. The shield held the handles for two beam sabers, an attempt to mimic EX-calibers hidden toys. It had two rounded, open shoulder pauldrons for armor on its shoulders. On its left shoulder a pair of large heavy GiNN swords were mounted, one to be used by the right arm, the second a replacement should she need it or accessible to her left hand if needed.

Between its two large Vernier thrusters was a black back pack that seemed to be its power source.

But its right shoulder had a large cannon mounted on it, its handle held by the right hand. The cannon was nearly identical to the launcher strikes Agni cannon. The backpack funneled power off to the cannon though if needed both could be ditched for extra speed due to lack of weight or also to free up the right hand.

In a last ditch situation the machine, which had elegant cuffs for wrist armor, held a pair of beam sabers just inside the palm portion of the cuff.

The machine was designed rapidly specifically to counter the enigmatic machine…though to be blunt even its own engineers don't remember making it, building it, testing ideas…it just showed up in a zaft prototype workshop and they knew why it was built and shipped it off.

Nina herself didn't remember her 25 years of life very well…only that she woke up, curled around a pillow, in an apartment in aprilius one with the knowledge of being a pilot and faith member and that she was assigned to this machine.

As she flipped her keyboard up and got out she turned around to look up at the machines head. It resembled a knight of old. The machine itself did. Rumor was she was expecting more gear shortly for it, potentially ditching the cannon as that was her primary problem with her N-jammer canceler and the main reason she had been dredged from deep in the ocean off the shore multiple times when her machine shut down after a few medium power shots from it.

She looked into the blue visor that was its eyes. Underneath was the signature mono eye of zaft design but hers lit up white? And the red crest on its head…the machine was like a knight in shining armor when active. A knight protecting zaft…specifically from the new menace EX-caliber.

The machine was currently a light grey like any phase shift plated machine. Once activated though it had snow white armor except the left shoulder which was black and had the faith symbol on it.

Nina could only stare at its face. Her past was a blur. She remembered being loved, having an older, teasing sister, amazing parents…even a zaft academy sweet heart…but it was all a blur. But when she looked into this machines visor all she knew was one thing…

**She…was Nina Yong…and she was the pilot of the paladin**

**Defend your beliefs.**

**So there's another episode…another botch combat scene…lol well I think so. I wish I could write them better, longer, something…but…I don't know. I feel like I'm doing ok on the three different view point style? I fit in a bit of different things happening with each character before coming back to the fight to finish it.**

**Let me know what you guys think. **

**Also yes…this chapter is the first to show real signs of the stress on the zero system. And even though this is Noah's new reality, I mean if he dies here he could die for real, it is still fiction. **

**For those of you familiar with gundam wing may recognize the custom machine I found on , to which I'll disclaim now, I did not make, the name I did, but not the suit, anyways you`ll notice that I kept the machine, like the custom version on the site, as close to its original design as possible. This was partially due to the fact that it's meant to be a sign of the zero system weakening under Noah's changes. **

**Also I wanna again mention…I do not support a flay/Kira pairing. In fact if anything just because they both die and in the end I think her desire to redeem herself was never allowed to be fulfilled I may pair her with Nicol since him and Kira have similar personalities. But right now flay is acting on the fact every time she gets pissed at Kira she also gets a bit…"excited" when the rage passes. If you watch the series closely she starts to get feelings for him just before Alaska and starts regretting her actions, mainly since they think Kira is dead at that point and now she blames herself for his death while also trying to get back together with sai. **

**Anyways point is, aside from Noah he's the other key factor in her confusion so she clings to the warmth he brings her while directing her rage at Noah.**

**Also all the cracks I mentioned…yeah with each chapter you`ll find EX-caliber is essentially like the zero system. As the system breaks down so will it. **

**Lol ALSO the plastic shards…first person to put two and two together as to the lack of EX-caliber in the scanning system in the build fighters universe and the fact the broken cockpit door had part of it splinter into small bits of plastic rather than a few good chunks of E-carbon gets to have a custom machine of their design or choosing appear once Noah returns as a new player to challenge EX-caliber's new form.**

**Speaking of which please…try not to figure out how they found what equate to plastic shavings amongst sand…it was the best I could come up with to tease you guys with it.**

**Oh and if you're wondering about my comment how EX-caliber powers down as it transfers power to other regions of its body to reinforce them it's true…though I'm being very nice to zaft and having it power him down slightly and help with when he kinda losses his shit in a fight. If you read the wiki it states that kinda like phase shift armor the GN particles are run throughout the body and weapons to not only alter their physical properties so they can fly and shit…but also reinforce the E-carbon plating. It's why a physical sword can do the same damage as a beam saber while also blocking one. **

**It's also why the GN blade three and a lot of the 00's extra gear and advanced blades have "condensed GN particle" tech or something like that. The thin green shit. It's weak as can be and actually pretty fragile. But by running GN particles through it it's as strong and deadly as a beam saber.**

…**I'm horrible at this author comment shit huh? Anyways read, review, tell me what I can fix, what I can keep, and tell me I'm either epically winning with this fic or that this fic needs to crash and burn. Either way I'm gonna keep writing it so feel free to flame because I don't care. Every review keeps me going and helps me better my writing ^^**

**PS in case you haven't noticed…I really like the word also…**


	8. into the lions den

**Lol ok so…to start I wanna say that exia got the closest, so far, only two attempts so far while I write but he's close, but not entirely accurate. You`ll all see in a few episodes when zaft gets a piece of EX-caliber. **

**Also just noticed I'm calling them episodes lol. I blame operation meteor for that. He/she calls their chapters episodes and they are a big inspiration for my desire to write this.**

**Forewarning: this chapter has some moments that may go just a tad above the PG-13 aka T rating this story has. If this bothers you please ignore the section where flay interacts with Noah. As well as the fight between blue cosmos and waltfeld**

***update: I apologize for all the grammar and spelling issues and such, i have asked multiple people to beta read for me, none of them actually get back to me on it though and ya know how you can read something and your mind fixes things for you, makes light grammar and spelling issues almost unnoticeable? Yeah that's my problem sadly**

**Into the lion's den**

Murrue sighed as she lay on her bed in her room. The sheets covered her body, the heat calling for some time out of her uniform…well…clothes in general as she tried to sleep. She curled up though in the sheets and closed her eyes, thinking to her recent discussion with Chief Murdoch.

The old head mechanic sighed as murrue looked over his report. "Like I said. There's not much we can do till the boy wakes up." he said as the captains eyes shifted from the report to the dish full of shavings.

She looked to him and asked, "So this is all we have?" she asked as she then turned to look at the

Damaged "god" in their hangar. A team of mechanics were to try and patch the hole on the cockpit door up and restore the areas integrity and ability to seal the cockpit with some patch work with phase shift armor.

Murdoch nodded. "Yeah. We looked for a good hour. Even in that shifting sands we got out there quick enough a gash that big should have left a good few panels worth of metal. Instead we somehow picked up all that…and that's it." He said as his men finally gave the thumbs up that the machine could be used safely…well to a degree.

She sighed. "So what do we tell him when he wakes up? Think he should be allowed to pilot?" asked murrue as she handed him the tablet which held the machines diagnostics on it. He shrugged. "Not our call. The fact we house him and do maintenance like this is our only problem with him. Remember he's just a merc to us. But…"Murdoch glanced to the strike.

"I think he has a good heart. And like Kira I doubt he'd stop protecting us over a small injury. Whether he likes it or will even join the alliance or not…he'll call this place home for as long as he can. Same with Nicol." he said which made murrue blink. Not many people referred to the zaft pilot by his first name yet.

"He do something to earn such a thought?" she asked, wondering if she listened to natarle too much when it came to the boy. He nodded and looked to the green haired pilot as he looked over blueprints for the blitz they had on hand and discussed his intended modifications with a pair of mechanics Murdoch leant to him to do it. The boy wore the earth alliance coat around his waist as if it were a jumpsuit top or a sweater and seemed to get along with the men.

Murdoch nodded. "Yeah. He's just done everything he can to help around here. Everything from running to the mess hall to get us all drinks or food to helping with grunt work like scrubbing down the blitz. I mean plus he's even wanting to modify the blitz to help keep us safe. Kid went from being a zaft pilot to being…well one of us pretty quickly." he said as Nicol lead the mechanics up the catwalk to show them something on the blitz.

Murdoch looked back to the captain. "But then again I think the fact he's been branded a traitor obviously helps. But also the fact he's not with the alliance. Seems almost kinda freed ya know? I think it's also because of Noah's machine. I`ve heard some of the boys talking even with the revelation of its damage…"he said as they both looked back to the titan that stood between the two prototypes.

Murrue nodded. "I've heard some musing amongst the crew. Even though it's protecting us, Noah and EX-caliber seem to be a balancing factor in this war, even more so then the prototypes. They think his machine will ultimately bring this war to a close." she said as she watched some of Murdoch's men bring equipment up to the back of the gundam to try and clean the GN drive clear of sand.

The grizzly man nodded. "Yeah…I think even Nicol realizes that he's part of the "winning team" now and since this ship is his home now he's trying to do all he can to protect it. Plus that last fight…he seems even more determined than ever to try and protect us. To think zaft is trying to bring weapons like that to the battle field…"he said as murrue sighed and turned to look at the data pad.

"Be honest with me chief. Can EX-caliber endure another fight like that?" she asked which caused the older man to groan and run his hand over his face.

"Honestly? I think only Noah can answer that. But if I had to guess…I think Noah needs to come clean with us on what all is going on with him and that machine before it crumbles underneath him. I looked over its weapons. That sword isn't gonna last much longer if he keeps using it to block beam sabers. It may be able to handle it now but…"he sighed

"If celestial being fielded even 3 more machines as specialized as his, with the right team…they would have dominated the earth sphere. To add a carrier into that mix, a mobile home base…."Murdoch looked up into the blood red eye of the gundam, ignoring the green one. "If they were half as strong as EX-caliber…I think even we would have been toast." Stated the mechanic as he shook his head in sorrow.

Murrue sighed and laid out flat on her bed. "if celestial being hadn't been destroyed…would we still be here?" she asked herself before finally sitting up, letting the blanket fall to her lap as she covered her face with her hands and sighed. She couldn't get that image out of her head.

The way the gundam fell from the sky. Like an angel that had had its wings torn off.

The way it hit the sand.

How it didn't get up.

How Nicol had to drag it inside.

How it had been a god on the battlefield but ever since his fight with rau le creuset he seemed rattled. Like he had lost faith in his abilities.

She shook her head.

No he hadn't. Well he didn't. Not until he was out maneuvered…

She gasped as she remembered he had been training with a team.

She threw the blanket off her and began to get dressed. She had a plan. It was crazy, and mu might not like it, but it just might save this ship. They had four pilots, three mobile suits and a fighter jet. It wasn't ideal…

But it was a team.

She jumped out of bed and began to get dressed

As she got to her jacket she threw her jacket on and as she buttoned it up she was already leaving her cabin.

She had to go check on their resident "merc"…

_Into the lion's den_

Noah pulled on the restraints. He had been restrained to his bed since he woke up. He still couldn't believe it. EX-caliber was damaged. How was he going to fix it? He didn't have any spare exia parts here, and he couldn't just go ask Ian Vashti to make him more e-carbon in the shape of an exia cockpit door.

And he couldn't shrink EX-caliber down to its gunpla form, go buy a spare exia, and replace the door.

He wished he could roll over and die….but he couldn't even roll over. He just wanted to die. Now what was he supposed to do? Murdoch would wanna know how to make e-carbon to fix the door. What could he do? Just say it was classified and claim he'd fix it?

Noah groaned and blinked when he heard the infirmary door open and close. He tried to see who it was but couldn't sit up to do so. "Hey…miriallia if that's you I Apolo…hey…what are you…"he was confused as he felt the bed sink with someone else climbing on it. A moment later flay came into view…along with a magnificent view of her breasts.

Wait…breasts? He quickly closed his eyes. She's like…16 right? Fuck he was not going to hell for doing anything with a 16 year old. Nope. Nada. Not gonna happen…

That was when he felt a rush of wind on his cheek and heard something pierce the sheets and mattress. He slowly opened his eyes and turned to see the knife dug into the bed beside his head. His eyes went wide.

She had meant to kill him!

Holy fuck this girl was nuts!

He was about to start begging for his life when he felt something hit his cheek. Something wet. He blinked and looked up. Flay was crying.

"Why? Why…why am I so confused? Why whenever I think of you while I…while I do "that" with Kira do I see all that horrible stuff. Why when I think of him do I feel such anger, such hatred when all he's ever done is try to love me?" she said, whimpering the whole time as she collapsed onto him, her head on his chest and he had to inhale sharply as her breasts pressed against him.

What was she talking about? Horrible stuff? Was…was she seeing what actually happened? She had always been unstable in the show…could that unstable mental state in the actual series somehow have allowed her to temporarily break the barrier between this reality he had made and the original one?

And do "that"? Oh dear lord she was sleeping with Kira!

Finally flay continued. "When I think of Kira…after all that rage and hatred…I feel such…warmth. Like I should love him or be with him or…something." she said quietly as she tried to stop crying. She finally got back up on her hands and knees over Noah and looked him in the eyes, her own filled with tears.

"Tell me why. Please…end this chaos in my own head. "she begged quietly as she moved to sit on her legs next to Noah, like a student waiting to hear their teacher's final words. Her tone though spoke of someone wanting to be talked out of suicide.

Finally Noah felt he could breathe and glanced at the knife. He remembered how unstable she got in the show and took a deep breath. She also was a manipulative bitch…but good at keeping secrets…kinda. She had a mean poker face to say the least.

"Even if I told you you wouldn't believe me." he stated as he waited for her to start yelling at him. Instead…

"Yes I would. What? Do I have to join your stupid organization? Do I have to turn traitor to the earth alliance before you`ll tell me?" she asked through sobs as she shifted to sit while hugging her knees to her chest. "Is it some kinda celestial being secret? Did you play with our minds? Is my daddy really dead?" she asked though now her tone was more accusatory then anything.

Noah shook his head. "No no your dad's alive and well. I just…it'd sound crazy." he stated as he looked away from her. He had a good view of her ass and he REALLY wanted to stay out of hell. Lest he face duo and death scythe down there. He couldn't help but snicker at the thought of the "god of death" coming through the veil just to reap his soul mid battle. Likely killing everyone else just to reach him.

This seemed to piss flay off as she growled. "What? Is this some big joke? Are you just toying with me?" she asked as she glared at him.

To tell her the truth truth or pull off some alternate dimension shit? Either way he'd essentially blow the whistle on ALLLL his bull…but…maybe if he worded it right. She did ask if she had to join celestial being….but did he want flay to join his crew? But to think you have to be a turn coat to join…it stung. Nicol was his only other cell member…and that was if the actual celestial being sanctified them if he ever met them…still it hurt.

He sighed. Might as well tell someone the truth. Besides she had seen and felt everything already and was this confused…if it meant his life was safe he'd tell her exactly how she dies….though he hoped to change that.

"Fine…you wanna know the truth?" he asked as he looked to her. She nearly jumped on him nodding, a hint of a smile on her face as the thought of finally having it all explained was given.

He smirked. "Cut me loose first. " He said to which the unstable girl quickly grabbed the knife and sawed her way through each of his bindings. Finally he was able to sit up and stretch. "seriously…just because I went and piloted EX-caliber while hurt and then got hurt more doesn't mean I'm gonna hurt myself even more." he grumbled as he made flay gasp when he stole the knife away from her and tossed it to the floor.

"Now then…you REALLY wanna know the truth? This information is classified to the point the fact I'm even THINKING of mentioning it would have gotten me killed if it weren't for me being the head of celestial being now. So you have to swear to never tell a soul." he said.

The desperate girl nodded her head like mad. "I swear I won't tell anyone, not even Kira or the captain." She stated as she waited to hear just what was going on with her. She was practically bouncing on the bed in joy of hearing such information.

He took a deep breath…and began to explain everything to flay. Yes yes it may seem like a poor choice but he felt bad for her. First in the series she loses her father and becomes a psycho bitch hell bent on killing all coordinators…now she saw all that and was getting such mixed signals from her body, he bet even a sex change and life time of therapy wouldn't fix it all.

So yes…he told flay EVERYTHING.

_Into the lion's den_

Nicol wiped some sweat off his brow. He had just finished finally disarming one of the lancer darts and looked to the mechanics helping him who put a thumbs up. He sighed and set the tools he had down. He glanced to the glepnir rocket anchor which was being removed from the blitz. He knew his former squad mates would use that anchor against him should he use it to disarm their flight packs. So…he was planning a surprise. He just hoped it would be ready in time. He knew they would eventually have to cross the ocean and what he intended was perfect.

Murdoch was being very accommodating to the coordinator. He was even letting him into his cockpit without supervision. Then again in the rebel camp and the archangels hangar…he wouldn't get too far as they`d all quickly drain his battery.

Then again he was quickly finding this ship to feel more and more like home. Not like the plants or like the Vesalius. No nothing would replace those. But the more he did to help out, the more mutual respect they all shared. The more he found he could laugh with them, he even shared a few stories from his days at zaft academy. He never shared any military secrets but like he ended up sharing a story about his explosive handling class and how yzak got so impatient he had had a blue ink "bomb" explode in his face.

It had caught them off guard given what all he was working with when they learned he graduated top of his class in explosive handling.

But the most interesting part was he was invited to join Kira and cagalli in an excursion into a nearby town. He had declined due to the fact he needed to see to his commanders health but he had also declined due to the fact the rebels weren't the only anti-coordinators in town. And what if Andrew made an appearance. He had respectfully given cagalli his clothing sizes and asked if she could get him some clothes. She originally seemed disgusted to be asked that but asked why her. He told her he liked her style over Kira's and only needed a shirt at best but if she saw some pants or anything he'd find some way to reimburse her.

Either way for now he was stuck in his under shirt and his uniform pants. At least they opened the hangar doors to allow a better breeze. Plus soon they`d head out to go gather supplies and need to bring it inside

He turned to the mechanics and gave them a sign to go grab some grub. In the meantime he headed for the hangar exit, looking to get a view of the earth, even if it was just sand.

_Into the lion's den_

Murrue was shocked by what she found when she entered the infirmary. Noah was doing push-ups on the floor, while an apparently naked mars allster was laying in his stead on his bed, asleep. Noah didn't seem to notice her and she was curious as to just how fit the boy was. He didn't seem to be military. His push-ups reminded her of high school P.E. and his body was only mildly toned. She had to wonder just what all he went through in terms of training aside from how to pilot his machine.

She finally cleared her throat which caused him to jump and fall before standing up slowly, wincing but not seeming to be in that much pain.

"I see you and Mrs Allster have been up to…something. Should I be concerned?" she asked as flay shifted in her sleep and revealed she was indeed naked underneath her uniform jacket and Noah's blanket.

He shook his head as he grabbed a nearby bottle of water and took a sip. "Nope. So can I get cleared to go? I need to check up on my machine, especially my GN drive. That thing will need cleaned…"he would have continued his BS line of maintenance the gundam would need but murrue held up her hand.

"Not another word about your machine Noah. Two things." she said before switching to hold up one finger. "First, you, Kira, Nicol and mu will be meeting in the hangar later and we will be setting up simulations to help you adapt to working with everyone. I intend to have Nicol launch more often alongside you if possible and I've come to realize while the make-up of it isn't the best, you were trained to work with a team…"she said, as she moved to spread her arms open like she was showing him something with a smile. "Now you`ll have one. Though we will have the battle situations decide whether you or Mu run the team." She said as Noah seemed taken aback by the fact they`d be running as a team.

Inwardly though he was screaming WHY WHY WHY!

He never worked with a team, hell even during a tag team event when him and Luke were younger he left Luke to fend for himself while he worked on his own plan. Luke didn't lose his gunpla that time…but he had made Noah fix a few broken parts after they won.

Now not only did he have to work with the "ultimate "pussy" coordinator" but plus Nicol? Yeah he recruited him to celestial being but he found the blitz to be a piece of crap.

Its stealth abilities alone made it worthless. It had to sacrifice armor for stealth. While yes in most cases this was the case in real military, in terms of gundams the deathscythe would run circles around the blitz and no just due to the lack of a time constraint on its power source.

Then there was the CQB fighting style. All its weapons were in its shield! Who the hell does that?

Over all he felt the blitz was crap and just felt bad for Nicol about his death so he recruited him before blue cosmos could get their hands on him.

Mu though he had no qualms working with. Then again mu was a military man. He knew he couldn't hold back on the trigger, and he knew how to fight.

Not that Nicol didn't it just…

He shook his head and smiled, not only to seem like he was snapping back to reality but also to stop the mental debate he was getting into over this.

She then took a breath and seemed to regret each word coming out of her mouth as she pulled a pair of envelopes from her back pocket.

"While I'm yet again breaking more regulations by doing this….these envelopes contain the pay that the G-weapon pilots would have accrued over our time since Heliopolis. It's not much but it should be enough for clothes and I don't know…some sunglasses, or whatever you and Nicol feel you may need or want. In 2 hours we are leaving with the desert dawn to go into banadiya for supplies. Cagalli has offered Kira, you and Nicol a place with her in the market while she shops for personal items for the soldiers." she said as Noah took the envelopes and opened it like a 5 year old being handed their first set of allowance.

The way he held the envelope with his name on it…it was actually like he was getting any money for the first time. Was celestial being not paying their pilots? Or did this have something to do with the plastic they found in the desert? Murdoch had mentioned it wasn't like any plastic known to mankind…

Finally Noah seemed to regain his composure and nodded. "Right. I`ll see to it Nicol gets his envelope. Can I go check on my gundam now?" he asked, like a kid who just wanted to go play.

Murrue sighed. She had no true command over him and it wasn't like she could order Kira to use the strike to impound EX-caliber…Noah would just kill Kira. So she stepped to the side. "Fine, go play…"she said like an annoyed mother finally relenting to their child's wishes.

As Noah left she moved into the infirmary to check on flay. The girl seemed to be happy where she was, a smile on her face as she slept, like she had just had a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. This only confused murrue further. But she had finally resigned to the fact Noah would constantly confuse her and covered the girl with the blanket. She'd talk to her later.

_Into the lion's den_

Nicol wiped a line of sweat from his forehead from working on his modifications to a lancer dart and looked to the group of rebels going over a list of supplies the ship needed with commander la flaga and natarle. He noticed cagalli was looking at the blitz.

She was just standing in front of it and looking back and forth between the G-weapon and EX-caliber. After the damage was revealed to mostly be cracks and likely structural damage the machine looked like it was determined to live more than ever. He got a rag from his work table nearby and began wiping his hands clear of grime as he walked over.

"You know there's no way to explain all the differences between any of the prototypes and Noah's machine." he said which startled the girl.

"Yeah…I heard from some of the mechanics it supposedly is another prototype of its own…but compared to the strike or blitz it seems like a complete machine." She stated as the mechanics worked around the machine, trying to get a clear idea of just what needed fixing.

Nicol nodded. "Yeah. Well he did say his was THE MOST complete machine amongst all of celestial beings machine but still…"he said as he looked over the machine. "With what little we know and how much we DON'T know…he could be lying…he could be lying about EVERYTHING and we would be none the wiser." he stated which made cagalli raise an eyebrow.

"Seriously? How much do you know about him? Aren't you part of his organization now?" she asked as she remembered the reports she read about the machine and it's capabilities.

Nicol turned to her. "Enough to know that when he recruited me he was dead serious with any death threat he made, but he was also recruiting me to save me from blue cosmos. Plus according to their dossier which I guess he memorized they recognized I have some piloting skills. Plus it's not like there was an orientation. It was more of a "join me or die during interrogation" kinda recruitment." He said as he started to wonder why she even had looked at the blitz. But then again she saw it during their attack so he could understand why she was likely curious as to why it was here.

She turned to him at that and poked his chest. "So you really are a former zaft pilot? And that's the GAT X-207 blitz not just some rebuild or a second one they produced?" she asked, her tone getting angrier with each word.

Nicol slowly nodded….

The hangar was filled with a slapping sound as cagalli's fist collided with Nicols face and the coordinator actually staggered back a moment.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ALL DID? HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE DISPLACED? HOW MANY LIVES WERE LOST? HUH? DO YOU?!" she screamed as she took a step towards him. Nicol staggered back another step as she swung again and missed and swung again and barely missed his face again.

"WHY? THAT COLONY WAS NEUTRAL! WHAT DID THEY EVER DO TO YOU THAT COULD HAVE POSSIBLY REQUIRED THE COLONY'S DESTRUCTION?!" she screamed and as she grabbed a wrench and tried swinging it at him but a hand caught her arm.

With tears in her eyes she spun around to try to tell kisaka off. Screw her true identity, screw if the desert dawn found out she was the princess of orb. This kid destroyed Heliopolis, he was the reason so many of her people now had to find new homes, new jobs, and some could never be recovered, their souls floating in space for eternity.

But instead of kisaka she gasped as she turned….to see a fist meeting her face.

She fell to the floor and coughed as she looked up and blinked for a moment till she could see who it was. She didn't recognize him. But Nicol suddenly jumped up and held him back. She brought her hand up to her face as she felt it suddenly get wet and was surprised when she looked to her hand and it had a good amount of blood on it.

"You wanna know who did all that? Who caused the colonies destruction?! Instead of beating on the guy who yes attacked the colony but to defend his own homeland, beat on the idiot using an ANTI FUCKING SHIP BEAM CANNON IN THE COLONY!" he yelled before pointing to the strike.

The whole hangar was confused, the alliance engineers and soldiers were wondering what to do given they were supposed to not harm the rebels.

The rebels were told to leave the alliance soldiers and their property alone.

Mu and natarle were trying to figure out just what all happened.

Meanwhile Kira walked in with the captain at the wrong moment and Noah turned to them and pointed to Kira.

"YOU WANNA KNOW WHO DESTROYED THE COLONY? HIM! HIM AND HIS BRASH DECISION TO FIRE HIS FUCKING HEAVY WEAPON BEFORE ANYONE COULD WARN HIM OF its POWER! HE STILL USES IT LIKE A FUCKING RIFLE EVEN NOW KNOWING WHAT ALL IT COULD DO!" he yelled as murrue gasped and Kira went pale.

All eyes were on him, the rebels were more surprised than anything.

The alliance soldiers were waiting for Kira's reaction.

And cagalli…cagalli was crying but also clearly seething with rage.

Noah finally calmed and shrugged Nicol off.

"That's who destroyed the colony. Nicol…was just defending his homeland by acting on intelligence. Kira…was acting on emotion and lack of intelligence." He said as he moved towards EX-caliber.

"So if your gonna hurt Nicol again you`ll be hurting a member of celestial being. And since I'm nice and a gentlemen I won't beat you right back or treat it like a hostile action…"he said as he got onto the elevator and began moving it up to have a look at his cockpit. "I'll just kick some sand into your camp with my gundam." he threatened before beginning to examine the door.

That made the room even more-tense, even less so then Kira slowly walking over to cagalli. He tried to help her up but she slapped his hand away and slowly got up on her own. Covering her bloodied face as Noah had broken her nose she slowly walked out of the hangar.

The room was silent as everyone slowly went back to what they were doing.

Kira looked to Nicol with a look asking if he should follow her. Nicol shook his head and rubbed his growing black eye gently, walking off to find an ice pack.

He then looked to EX-caliber. What had Noah intended when he called him out as Heliopolis' destroyer? It was true his use of the Agni cannon had destabilized the colony…but the GiNN pilots using the heavy missiles had ultimately finished the job.

He glanced back to the main hangar door where Nicol had gone. Or was he protecting Nicol? Trying to redirect her rage at someone she may feel she couldn't retaliate against? Kira shook his head and moved back to where he intended to go, heading out of the hangar to get some fresh air.

Murrue watched Nicol walk past her, likely heading to the infirmary for an ice pack. She then looked up to where Noah was examining the patch work on his gundam. He seemed to dislike what they did but his body language stated he understood it needed to be done. As he climbed into the cockpit she sighed and turned to join her XO and commander la flaga. She needed to make sure that everyone needs were being met, not just the ships basic supplies so she also had a list to pass onto cagalli from miriallia and the tech students. Since they didn't go through basic training they had a few specific items they needed to be truly comfortable on the ship.

_Into the lion's den_

A couple hours later Noah sat in a jeep next to Kira, while cagalli and kisaka sat up front. With his presence in the convoy they had needed a third jeep to accommodate the rebel troops escorting captain Ramius and the command staff. They took up two jeeps all together so that left them to have their own jeep.

Noah had opted to wear his normal clothing, yeah the sweater made him hot as could be but he was gonna try to use his hood to hide his identity. The last thing he needed was for them to be found out due to Andrew sighting him and figuring out he was the pilot of EX-caliber with his never ending Intel network.

He was surprised when Nicol had told him he wasn't tagging along though Nicol was surprised Noah was going. So he had a list of things Nicol needed and had half the money from his envelope. Nicol had been even more surprised he was being paid. Noah never remembered anyone getting paid in the series so he was curious as to how zaft pilots afforded anything. Did they just have direct deposit maybe?

And didn't most navy vessels have like a commissary where they could buy shit like shampoo and snacks and such?

Noah was just trying to figure out what each bill and coin meant so he wouldn't seem too much like an idiot when he bought something and had no idea how much to give the merchant.

Either way another half hour and they were all scanning the market, Noah also keeping his hand ready to grab Nicols side arm, which had been returned to him and then Nicol having given it to him. He was awaiting the blue cosmos attack.

He had never actually fired a gun but he BS'd his way past Nicol…and he knew how to turn the safety off and cock the gun…then it was just point and shoot right?

They passed a few stands, Noah quickly finding a few cheap knock offs as cagalli told him but he still got a decent watch, a cool bandanna, and shed his hoodie for the bandanna becoming like a bandit mask and a desert camo sun hat. He also made sure to pick up Nicols things, along with a shirt for him. He didn't dare try to buy pants for the boy.

Kira had laughed at him originally but he explained he was hot and that he needed to conceal his identity. Kira then reminded him no one outside the desert dawn or the archangel crew knew he was EX-calibers pilot and he gave up trying to reason with the naïve boy.

The experience was certainly interesting, especially watching natarle actually get tongue tied when sending Kira off with them. He had almost burst out laughing from the fact it was twice as hilarious to actually hear her compared to watching it in the episode.

Finally, noticing they had yet to see the ruined building cagalli had used to give Kira a reality check. So as he handed some money to a street merchant and was handed a small bag containing a necklace he had found and wanted to take back for Luke to give his wife in apologies for him taking so long he decided to read off Kira's lines…

"So I noticed this place is pretty lively, normal almost given what I read about zafts normal treatment of towns they occupy. Is this REALLY the desert tigers HQ?" he asked as he unrolled his hoodie around his waist and stuck the necklace in his pocket.

That instantly got cagalli's attention as it had in the show and she grabbed his hand and dragged him away with Kira following. "You may think this place looks safe and normally…but looks can be deceiving." She stated as they weaved through the crowds and buildings.

"what do you mean by that?" he asked, playing dumb till they reached the attack site and she through her arm out and pointed to it then the large land ship off in the distance.

"This is what I mean. That is the true ruler of this town. Anyone who rebels is quickly and mercilessly silenced." She stated as she turned to Noah and looked him in the eyes. "You think your mobile suit makes you invincible? We've seen footage of you versus the Vesalius. You hit the ship as if even if it could hit you it would never even leave a scratch. How do you think our younger soldiers feel when they manage to destroy a Bu-CUE? And what do you think that gets them?" she asked, her eyes burning a hole into his very soul as it felt.

He swallowed the fear he was beginning to feel towards this girl and narrowed his own eyes. "I'm different. My skills should show that." He stated. He caught a glimpse of waltfeld's signature bright shirt and sun hat out of the corner of his eyes and he mentally berated himself for egging her onto this situation. She had personally guaranteed the military coordinator would put 2 and 2 together, even more so with his recent statement.

She laughed at him. "Right…that last fight showed you're a real god of war. Come back to me when you`ve destroyed the desert tiger and freed these people of his tyranny." She said before she turned and lead them further into town, likely to end up in the scene with waltfeld and the stupid sauces. He was trying to remember how it went so his kabobs wouldn't end up coated in both sauces as well.

_Into the lion's den _

Murrue sighed as she watched Murdoch clean out the strike. Kira was spending so much time inside it it was becoming his living quarters. She heard him grumbling and she glanced to EX-caliber. When Noah wasn't injured he spent almost as much time inside his own machine. She could only guess what his cockpit looked like.

Mu was with her and sighed as they watched flay begin to pick up the trash Murdoch was pulling out. She had been surprised when he brought this to her. But she couldn't help but wonder when it began. The girl had been so determined to join the navy she figured she must know of a few of the regulations. One of the basic ones is no fraternization. And here she was hearing of her hovering over Kira like a doting girlfriend keeping her over achieving boyfriend from working himself to death.

She then took a glance to the blitz. Nicol was on the torso with a rag cleaning the face plate. Compared to when he first asked her as to her comment about him keeping the blitz operational he had almost taken over for the mechanics. Between modifying and seemingly upgrading their own machine and constantly cleaning and maintaining it he was becoming a regular grease monkey when it came to the stealth machine.

She had spoken with Murdoch about it when she saw Nicol with a tool box and a second mechanic working on the left knee. He had stated that the more he looked over the blueprint and thought back to his time piloting it the more the kid seemed to find faults in it…well not faults…but things that needed tweaking in order to improve performance.

One thing the grizzly mechanic had stated was his worry the kid was taking on more than he needed to, like he was wanting to learn how to care for the machine in the event Noah and him had to leave the ship.

He had tried sending him off to sleep or even told him to relax and the boy would just say he needed a few more minutes working on whatever he was and he'd be done. But when he was he'd find him with a rag and cleaner wiping down the machine again stating he'd found dust on it…dust!

It boggled her mind what was driving the young man.

Mu sighed. "So…what are we gonna do about him?" he asked as he turned from leaning on the rails to turning and joining her in watching the coordinator child.

She blinked and looked to him, "what do you mean?"

He chuckled. "It's obvious you're more worried about Nicol and his growing obsession with the blitz's maintenance then you are about the girl and Kira. What's on your mind?" the mobile armor pilot asked as he smiled and looked to her.

She sighed. "I'm worried he'd over working himself…but I'm trying to figure out why. I mean according to Murdoch he's better about keeping his cockpit clean and spends more time working on the suit itself and less on the OS like Kira. But…I'm just trying to figure out what's driving him…"she said as she watching Nicol seem to look into the blitz's deactivated eyes the same way she had seen Noah do before beginning to rub them down with the rag.

"I don't know…it just seems like he's doing more than simple maintenance." she stated before leaving it for mu to try to explain.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure myself. I mean on one hand I'd say he's just trying to keep the blitz in peak condition but the amount of adjustments he's made he needs to go into combat before he makes anymore or else he may be over compensating…"he said as he turned and left the hangar, murrue following.

"But if I had to guess he reminds me of a few older mobile armor pilots who had survived their squad's destruction. He's doing everything he can to not have to have time to think about the fact he`ll be fighting his team soon enough. I mean we'd be fools to think zaft won't send the creuset team down here to help take us out even with that new toy they put on the field that hit Noah." he said as they stopped and murrue looked at him.

"Best thing we can do is give him space and let him work it out on his own. Maybe mention it to the tech students that they could include him in their little group? He's adapting to the mechanics crew yes but the rest of the ship…I've still seen some of our marines flinch when they seem him reach behind his back to scratch an itch or even grab a rag after working all day and finally heading for his quarters." He suggested.

Murrue nodded "I could also give him slightly more access to the ship. He seems to be blending in yes…but natarle is still certain he's just doing that to gain access to the bridge eventually or access to other areas of the ship. Either way your right…and this thing between flay and Kira…any ideas?" she asked, remembering why he had had her meet him in the hangar anyways.

The question made him laugh and again shrug. "They're kids and the girl seems to help him relax. I mean he puts an unnatural amount of pressure on himself when he's out in combat. I see it in how weary he is after a fight. Not much I can think of without giving him an alternative form of stress relief." he said as he looked the captain up and down which made her glare at him.

As she stormed off in apparent anger she called back, "then let's hope this day out in the city helps him relax!"

_Into the lion's den_

Kira sighed as he slumped down in the chair Noah had offered him before sitting down himself. The two boys were worn out, Noah from heat exhaustion combined with having bought a few more items and now carrying his own bags along with cagalli and Kira from carrying more of the bags for the desert dawns supplies.

"We managed to get almost everything. But our last two people are that flay girl and Nicol. Did you manage to get everything Nicol requested?" asked cagalli which made Noah raise an eyebrow.

"All he wanted was a shirt. The other items were optional." He said as he opened a canteen he bought and had filled and took a drink. "So yeah I got all he wanted and more." He said, clearly the heat beginning to frustrate him.

She glared at him for a moment before looking to flay's list. "This girl has no idea where we are does she? I mean beauty cleanser and moisturizer? Did she just join your navy or does she not realize there isn't a beauty salon for a few thousand miles?" she asked to which Noah laughed.

"trust me…that girl didn't just JUST join the navy…she's also is the daughter of the vice foreign minister so she's just getting her feet wet when it comes to the LACK of luxuries that she has to deal with in the navy." He said as their waiter came and brought them there food. He sighed and knew what was coming.

Just as cagalli began to mention Chile sauce a long, tan arm reach over his shoulder and pick up the yogurt sauce. He sighed once again and grabbed his plate, getting ready to move and shift it to try and get half and half when it came to the sauces.

He watched them focus on Kira more than him and he waited to see if they`d stop and maybe just MAYBE he could do it himself. But no…soon cagalli turned on him and said, "you too Noah, you seem like the kinda guy to enjoy spice on his food." she said as she moved to put the Chile sauce on his plate. He shifted it just in time to where he only got half his kabob covered.

Before waltfeld to make a dramatic scene about the Chile sauce he snatched the bottle of yogurt sauce from his hand and put it on the other half, folded it and grabbed a knife he had requested with his food to cut it in half. The two "food tyrants" blinked as he did so.

He looked between them and blinked himself. Playing stupid he asked, "What…I can't decide to try them both? It's all about having an open mind when trying foreign foods." he stated. He desperately wanted to try a bite of each but it seemed having to also coat his food left them with little time as he soon heard the RPG fire and it all went into slow motion. Food went flying everywhere as Kira moved to cover cagalli and waltfeld flipped the table. Noah tried to grab his food but wanted to cry as he took his own cover to avoid the RPG and wished he had taken a page out of heero's book and somehow hidden a truck with EX-caliber on it close by so maybe he could finish this fight quickly and actually eat. But then again it'd only cause more panic to have a gundam in the city.

He began to hear the anti-coordinator jargon of one of the blue cosmos attackers and in the middle of their sentence he was silenced with a single shot from Noah. They were so focused on waltfeld and them that since he was behind alternative cover he was being ignored. So…he took his time, lined up the shot…and now the racist idiot was choking on his own blood.

As he fell to the ground he noticed a few of them saw him fire and were turning on him. "Hey you racist fucks! How about you go screw more of cousins and become the inbred idiots your propaganda sounds like it should come from!"He yelled before taking cover as that seemed to gather ALL their attention.

What could Noah say? He hated racists and considered anyone with such a narrow view to be an inbred hick who only knows two things. How to fire a gun and screw his own family members.

Waltfeld even gave him a glance before beginning to return fire and tell his people to do so.

As the fight wound down he noticed Kira find his "throwing gun" and before he could throw it he turned to the flanking enemy and fired off his last 2 rounds into his chest.

One of waltfeld's subordinates ran up to check if he was ok.

"Yeah I'm doing just fine actually. And it's all thanks to him." he stated as he turned to Noah instead of Kira. He quickly hid his fire arm, lest they realize he was using a standard issue zaft side arm.

Noah gulped as waltfeld walked over. "You saved my life…how can I repay you? "He asked with a knowing look, like he knew exactly who Noah was. And he likely did.

_Into the lion's den_

Noah blinked they sat in waltfeld's car. He was looking over the mansion. It was waltfeld HQ…he was about to get into a discussion with Andrew waltfeld over the war just like Kira did. He had to admit…this was pretty cool.

As he followed Kira and cagalli he also wondered what it would take to jack a GiNN from outside. He was still curious if he could pilot an actual mobile suit, not one with his plavsky particle cockpit. He watched Aisha take cagalli off to clean up. He had to admit the woman was much more beautiful in person then on screen.

When he and Kira entered waltfeld's private office it reeked of coffee….but at the same time had a smell of aromatics so it was a nice blend. He heard waltfeld pouring a cup and looked over to see him turning to them.

"I promise you the coffee I make is first rate…a lot like both of your fighting styles." he stated with a sly smirk. "Please, have a seat, make yourselves at home." he stated as Noah and Kira went to look at the "whale stone".

Whale stone…sounded like something from the anime Pokémon. Noah still wasn't too clear about this thing….but he had a feeling it wouldn't be the topic of today's chat like in the series. Something told him it'd be more like a conversation over the ideals that went into the idea of an innovator and celestial being, with his GN drive being at its core.

As he predicted the conversation went similar to the one in the series for a few lines, with him staying silent as they discussed the whale stone but when he was asked about the coffee after taking a sip he looked at it. It was gone…the tiny cup was empty.

Waltfeld laughed. "I take it you enjoyed my brew. Then again it certainly beats military grade instant coffee." he said as he patted Noah on the back.

Noah nodded. "Yeah…this is actually better even then what I've made myself." he said which made the war vet laugh.

"Ahhh so you`ve dabbled in coffee blending yourself?" he asked as they moved towards the couches.

Noah shook his head. "No I just have mixed a few different pre-made grounds to try and bring out certain flavors…all failures." said Noah but waltfeld held up his hand.

"Non-sense! When it comes to brewing a good cup of Joe the failures are never such. There is only trial and error. Trust me, start making your own grounds and mixing in some aromatics. It can give the coffee better flavor when you do it yourself." he stated.

Noah couldn't believe the conversation. Was he really discussing coffee with the desert tiger? Why hadn't the man brought up…

"But I'm curious as to how you managed those glowing green particles coming from your machine..."he stated randomly.

And the conversation just did a 180 from casual to business.

Kira was in the middle of taking another sip of coffee when he did a spit take. "Say what now?! How did you…" Kira blinked, astonished oddly that he knew Noah was EX-calibers pilot.

This made the tiger laugh loudly. "Really kid you thought I was blind? You both must not be military. He was trying too hard to both hide AND cool off for me NOT to realize who is was. It'd be like trying to hide a GiNN in the sand without desert camo paint while only covering its feet in sand." he said as he finally calmed down and looked to Noah. "So kid…wanna tell me about those particles? And don't bother with the whole "that's alliance military secrets" stuff. I just wanna know how you made the light show and if that's your propulsion system. Nothing more." he said.

His intent clearly and sincerely was pure curiosity, Noah could tell. The man enjoyed a challenge but also enjoyed cold hard facts. Though the idea he wasn't digging for more details surprised Noah.

"And before you go trying to figure out why that's all I need to know it's pure and simple…"he said, taking a sip of his coffee before looking Noah dead in the eyes. "I know you're not alliance navy. That machine is too high tech to be made purely by naturals and I don't care about the science behind it. Any man worth his salt and who actually has a clear head in this war realizes your machine is a balancing factor." he said as he set his cup of coffee down. He wasn't giving Noah time to talk but it seemed this conversation was gearing up to his discussion with Kira about the war.

"Your speech in the orbital battle made it into my inbox. Same with footage of how you destroyed units on both sides. How you got Nicol to do the same is beyond me. Your machine isn't of this world. Well at least the tech is so far out of even some of zafts greatest scientists worlds you`ve really caused a panic up there. But your just one machine so I'm assuming the alliance thinks sheer numbers will be enough to bring you down." He said as he began to explain his thought process behind his statement.

"There's talk amongst the upper brass though that you're ACTUALLY not from this world, that your engine brought you here somehow. A lot of the people seeking a swift and peaceful end to this war are actually thinking you may be the answer to that." He said as he got up and walked over to the whale stone.

He stared at it as he said, "I've read that when a forest grows to large nature brings balance to the land through a thunder storm. Lightning from the storm creates a forest fire which eventually burns itself out and the forest is cut down to size. It's my belief that the racial hatred between simple human beings has reached its peak and that you are the universes answer to the fact humanity is close to wiping itself out." he said as he turned around. Aisha knocked and called to state cagalli was ready.

Andrew smiled. "Perfect timing send her in." he called back as he got cagalli a cup of the coffee.

Another minute later and they were all once again sitting, everyone's cup full of coffee, Noah being sure to take this cup slowly. As much as he hated himself for thinking it he had to get waltfeld's recipe. He could drink this for days and never get tired of it.

"As I was saying, only a fool couldn't see what this war will turn into if the alliance doesn't come to the negation table soon." he said as he looked Noah in the eyes.

"So I just wanna know one thing…what's with the light show?" he asked as he leaned back in the couch.

Noah took a slight gulp and was about to explain what little he knew about GN drives just because this man clearly had been effected by the zero system and was thinking similarly to Noah. Then again he had a feeling all along waltfeld felt this way.

But cagalli beat him too it.

"How can you have the audacity to do this!?" she nearly yelled.

It made Kira jump that was for sure.

Andrew seemed to growl at her. "Well well…perfect little lady till you open your mouth huh? And just what am I having the audacity to do?" he asked calmly.

"To sit here and talk to him like he's the fucking savior of the world while you walk around town in casual dress like your one of its citizens and incite blue cosmos attacks which get people killed! Oh and let's not forget that you have people evacuate their towns before setting the town on fire! Who the hell does that?!" she yelled at him as she stood up which waltfeld did as well

"so then I take it your one of the terrorists who'd rather die for her cause then live and be able to see the fruits of your labor?!" he yelled back as he got up and walked over towards a desk. Kira and cagalli got up and slowly began to head towards the door. Noah meanwhile sipped on his coffee. After all he knew Andrew was just blowing smoke.

"If that's the case then you tell me how this war should end? This isn't sports. There's no points, no set time limit just a body count. So tell me young lady at what point should war end?" he asked as he pulled a gun from a drawer and aimed it at the pair.

Kira glanced at Noah and saw how calm he was. Did he not care about them? Were they and the archangel really just tools to allow him to survive?

Kira grit his teeth and waited to see what waltfeld would do as he continued speaking about himself and Kira being coordinators and again with the "why you`d fight your own people" crap. Honestly Kira was starting to get sick of being asked that.

Meanwhile now was just sitting there sipping on his coffee.

_Into the lion's den_

Nicol finally re-entered the hangar with a yawn. The doctor had given him some pain medication with the side effect of knocking him out for a bit. Sadly with his coordinator/ mobile suit pilot metabolism his body burned right through the light sedative and he was now just coming back in to check on the blitz. Maybe he'd take a look at the strike too? Kira wouldn't mind if he gave it a tune up would he?

He blinked though when he heard the cockpit of the strike open and glanced up towards the catwalk in front of the cockpit. From where he was at he saw someone stepping into the machine.

With another yawn he closed his eyes and stretched, "must be Kira. They should be back by now. At least now I can go ask him first." he said as he headed towards the elevator to ride up to the catwalks. Just as he began the ride up though he heard the war machine turn on and he blinked when he saw the mobile suit activate and the gates open as it took a step out….but the step was wobbly.

His eyes went wide. Was someone trying to steal the strike? His hand went for his side arm…then he remembered…Noah had taken it into town. So instead he simply began the run towards the blitz's cat walk. If anything he could at least slow the thief down…but then…who could control the strike here besides himself or Kira?

Finally he reached the blitz right as the hangar began to fill with onlookers. As soon as he reached the cockpit and activated the blitz he hit his speakers on while it powered up. "Everyone please step back! I`ll intercept the strike…"he said just as the machine took another step and seemed to get stuck. Whoever it was was doing ok…but was having trouble keeping it balanced.

"Or…I'll just…CATCH IT!" he shouted at the end due to having to force the blitz from its cage and throw the arms out to catch the strike and keep it from falling forward.

Whoever it was certainly should have been given top marks. While not as good as murrue as he'd heard she piloted the strike before Kira and managed to dodge Miguel a few times, he had some natural talent. But still…

**Into the lion's den**

**Well another shotgun chapter in my opinion. I actually had to hit and miss on following the episode here because I wanted to include the conversation with waltfeld in this chapter hence the name but I also felt like this was filler…well for my story. In truth I have realized until they get out of Africa and the fight just beforehand I'll be sticking pretty close to the original anime story aside from battles. **

**It's my fault really given I had him stick with the archangel AND save Nicol rather than have him re-enter on his own like nemesis and have him ignore Nicol…but they are also both big plot points…kinda…**

**Also I've noticed I tend to leave things like questions hanging, like in this chapter I just re-read it and I left Andrews question of what's up with the light show from the GN drive just sitting there. This is because I have adhd and when I get going like I did following up with that with his response to Kira's reaction. When I get the creativity going...I just can't stop but I try to fix it when I re-read since I have no beta reader and kinda help it flow. **

**Oh and tell me if you like how I'm having Nicol act, I'm rushing his adaption to the archangels crew members but I'm also trying to portray him as a seed version of quatre since as I re-watch the series and see the zala team interact again I notice that he seemed similar to qautre, so since he's out of his element and out of his spot in the series I thought mirroring qautre, without the whole being gay part, was a good idea.**

**Yzak mirrors wufei in my opinion and Dearka is duo. I`m a big wing fan in case you can't tell.**

**Also I have nothing against gays, my best friend is bi, but he has a boyfriend so I consider him gay and I'm cool with it. I just always got this vibe quatre would rather spend an evening with trowa then any females my friends say he got close too. Plus he just gave off that vibe to me…I mean seriously like that thing in lunar base with heero…wtf man?**

**Also I'm working on a new idea for a gunpla for Noah, which he will be using in a couple chapters in between orb and operation spit break but not what he will be using FOR operation spitbreak. **

**Anyways next chapter is gonna be a big chapter for those of you wanting to know just how fucked up EX-caliber really is and know just what murrue's plan for a team is you`ll know next chapter. **

**As usual read and review.**


	9. please dont hate me TT

Fore-warning

This chapter is terrible and almost completely filler. I kinda ran out of ideas and lost steam and I'm just posting it so I can move on. I will make it up to you all soon I swear. Maybe with another intermission chapter to show you all what I have been thinking of?

I apologize for the grammatical and spelling atrocity you are about to read. *gets on my knees with my hands put together and raised* please…forgive me. The next few chapters will be much better. I`m just posting this to move on…

On the wings of an angel

With as loud a sound as he could without shattering the cup Noah put his cup and plate down and slowly stood up. The abrupt action seemed to startle even waltfeld. After all just a moment ago he had been sitting on the couch like none of this worried him.

"I'm assuming you have an answer then?" asked waltfeld as he turned the gun on Noah, originally not intent on using it but he was curious if he had angered the boy suddenly. After all he seemed to not seem TOO worried as he stared waltfeld down.

"Yes I do….the answer is simple and exactly what you stated that my group was here to bring about…but flipped around. Originally my team, my small group was to become such a destructive force, so terrifying to both zaft and the alliance, that you`d both lay down your arms and either make peace or come after us under a ceasefire and afterwards realize working together was more to your benefit than anything else." He said as he took a step towards waltfeld.

This seemed to worry the veteran for a moment.

"The answer instead is that this war will come to a bloody and brutal end. A no holds bar brawl between both sides where each lays out their secret toys they have been developing and humanity will see war for what it truly is. A horrible thing that can only be ended once someone finally has the guts to end the cycle…the end the endless waltz of war, peace, and revolution….TO FUCKING LAY DOWN THEIR GOD DAMN GUNS!" he yelled at the end, actually causing the coffee coinsurer to drop the gun and take a step back as he took a step forward.

This made Noah blink for a moment till finally waltfeld reacted by laughing. Nervously at first…but…laughing

The coordinator stopped slowly and held his hand out to Noah.

"In the days to come we will meet on the battlefield. Either you and me, or me and the kid. Win or lose…"

Noah shook his hand slowly.

"I'm counting on you two to end this war. But make no mistake. Out of the three pilots in this room…no matter which of us faces off…know that only one of us can survive. So promise me this…"he said, looking more at Noah then he was Kira, even tightening his grip on Noah's hand.

"You won't hold back…against me…or anyone else." He stated as he let Noah go.

Did he know? Like flay had he seen what happens to him? Well seen what HAPPENED? Or maybe he had already seen the future? His eyes look full of determination towards Noah…but he could see it swiftly flash to sorrow then back to determination when he glanced to Kira.

Did he know he was going to have to fake his own death to continue on? Or did he already know what moves Kira would use and knew how to kill him?

Noah was perplexed by the fact he may have…he was a solid man, both in mind and body. Yes he only had a few episodes in the series before he "died" but still…does that make his "life" short enough to peer into the void beyond? Did he know how this conversation was going to go?

Finally they let go of each-others hand and he put the gun away before buzzing for Aisha.

Before they left him and Noah's eyes met once more and Noah knew it then and there. It didn't matter from the zero system if he had seen everything or not. He was a smart man, he knew where to put his money. He knew from the start Kira would kill him, he was betting on it.

He wasn't suicidal, he wasn't looking for an adrenaline rush to try and stop him, and no…no he could see KIRA was the hero. Kira was the one who would change the whole game of this war. He knew Kira's kind heart would dominate in the battle and allow for him to win.

He nodded to the desert tiger and left.

He'd see him again…on the battlefield.

On wings of an angel

Nina kicked her helmet off the gangplank. "FUCK! WHY THE FUCK CAN'T I GET IT RIGHT!?" she screamed as she turned and kicked at her cockpit door.

She had been running simulation after simulation of one based off their data on EX-caliber. Even now with its busted door factored in and the pilot's tendency to "lose its cool" that Heine stated after being flanked she couldn't get around the machines excellent balance between range, defense, and CQB. The machine always had a back-up plan. She even ran a few WITH her "team" with all their machines linked and waltfeld intended forces for the fight put into the simulation. With the way the blitz fought in orbit factored into the simulation, the buster and duel were sent after the other two proto-types and failed for one reason or another, at one point the buster's pilot managed to remove the blitz from the equation, but hers and Heine's own quarry had proceeded to enter an almost berserk state as it turned red and took the buster out from range and trashed Heine before blasting past her to eliminate the duel.

All in all out of 25 simulations with her team they only won ONCE, and managed to achieve all objectives…but not without her and her "semi-nuclear powered" machine being the only thing that came out on top. And even then they all had to hit one target at once in a charge attack, taking the strike out first, then the blitz, and finally they overwhelmed EX-caliber and slaughtered the archangel. But for each target they lost someone.

Yzak got cocky and fell to the strike when it seemed to berserk as he got close and it used it's aile pack, it's most commonly used pack, to out maneuver him but as it did so the buster got off a shot with it's combination hyper impulse cannon, clearing out the strikes cockpit before turning around right onto the blitz's waiting beam saber.

She had found the ONE simulation they won ironic simply because the prototypes took out one after the other with beam weapons to bypass the phase shift armor till it was her and Heine vs the blitz and EX-caliber. From that point on the fight turned into a 2 on 2 brawl, the blitz fell only due to it trying to flee after its battery ran out.

From there EX-caliber had managed to tango with them both rather evenly, its sword and shield fighting style holding up well as the loss of its comrades seemed to spur it into action. Finally Heine fell due to a sword too the back and being used as a "human shield" for one of her cannon shots.

Then they had both risen above everything and proceeded to go toe to toe with their blades. This had lasted a while, after all Nina was getting better at countering his moves. Finally she led him into a dive and managed to get ahead of him. Switching hands for her GiNN sword and drew a beam saber and ditched her shield and climbed up against him.

Surprised, the pilot had tried to switch to a climb or move out of the way while raising it's shield but instead she used her physical blade to knock his shield out of the way and as they switched places and he tried to fall on his back towards the surface and boosted down at him and drove her beam saber through his cockpit.

She had been so happy to see him explode in the simulation she had forgotten to keep an eye on her own power meter. Her N-jammer canceller had freaked out from all her maneuvers that the draw on the reactor was to great and she found herself falling quickly afterwards and watched as the archangel was sunk. But before the simulation could conclude as complete she hit the ground with enough force…she went up in flames and the simulation was deemed a failure.

This last one she had been alone against EX-caliber and she threw everything she had at him. She almost had him but she got caught off guard by his red glowing super speed berserk like state.

She sighed and looked up at her machine's face then back at the spot she kicked. She felt bad oddly and she walked off to get a rag and some cleaner of a child having been chastised and punished.

On the wings of an angel

Murrue smiled as she looked at the set-up she had organized. They had a small makeshift command center, the skygraspers simulator, and the strike, blitz and EX-caliber synced up for a training exercise.

She had informed them of this team set up an hour ago, after it was all set up. The desert dawn was giving them another day to get things squared away and she intended to take full use of it for this.

She glanced to the screen that was split into four and showed each of their own main monitors. The simulation program was a crappy mash up of nicol's knowledge of zafts machines, and what little they knew of this new prototype. At the moment Noah was holding off the prototype and doing better than he had before.

Nicol and Kira were taking on the forces they estimated waltfeld to have including himself and the gat proto-types and mu was running recon for them and using the launcher striker pack for hit and run missions.

She gasped when finally once again the prototype got an edge on Noah and soon his simulator failed when no one could get to him in time to help pull the prototype off him and she tapped the mechanics shoulder who was manning it and motioned for him to end the simulator.

This time Noah came out and punched the railing for his gangplank. "FUCK! It's a fucking prototype with FIVE minutes of battery life…FIVE! It isn't even as fast or strong as the freedom or justice…why the fuck am I losing to a prototype gundam…I mean it's a freaking half and half of the two strongest gundams in the cosmic era…"he was yelling so fast and turning to beat on EX-caliber's door as he yelled.

Thankfully he was yelling so fast and was moving to the point everyone was looking at him confused.

Murrue was wondering what this "freedom" and "justice" were. This was a prototype for these machines? But…with that many lasers and that speed…was he right on the battery life? But how did he know so much about this machine.

Nicol walked over and smacked him. "Noah! Get yourself together man!" he yelled at him and it got the young man to stop. "What are you even talking about? I mean seriously what the fuck is all that?" he asked and Noah shook his head.

"None of you are ready for it. Just…let's run it again!" he shouted to murrue who shook her head.

"No come down here!" she yelled angrily and Noah groaned.

"Fine…"he said and the three pilots headed to meet with her. Mu got out of the flight simulator and sighed as they all gathered around her.

"What's up captain?" asked Noah as he crossed his arms, clearly unhappy with the fact they weren't practicing.

Murrue closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm not sure what that outburst was but what is going on Noah? Every since your fight in orbit with rau le creuset you have been freezing up whenever you get flanked. Were you trained that much to depend on a team?" she asked as she looked Noah in the eyes.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. I just…it's been a problem for a while. Even before I joined up with you. In my last training sessions with my team I would freeze up and…yeah I kinda depended on them to bail me out." he said as he sighed and looked down. A blatant lie but one that could keep his cover intact.

He should have known this would happen eventually. He was a one man army against most opponents mainly because he knew his machine inside and out, he ran sim after sim in the gunpla arena's to perfect its OS. He prided himself on being one of the top contending underdogs originally who was not using a fancy machine that had a bunch of plavsky particle based special abilities like an absorb system or particle resonance equipment.

But in here. In seed….he had been counting on his GN drive based tech to keep him on top. His knowledge of the series as well would have come in handy. But it seemed his old nemesis was catching up to him….

Arrogance.

His worst trait and one that cost him the world champion title. He was a master of tactics, while most utilized their gunpla's speed, power, and strength, whatever to win battles, he was always thinking 3 moves ahead and thinking of how to beat that aspect of their gunpla. Some others used strategies but most were conventional tactics, easy to pick up and counter.

But china and her custom wing zero EW. She had capitalized on its wings to make it a beautiful gunpla, even winning a couple art contests with it. But when she fought with it….those wings…he couldn't get around them. She had somehow made them react like funnels and always set to defensive.

Her reaction time had been exquisite, sei clearly trained her well and she had obviously watched gundam wing a few times.

But when he remembered that fight…it was no contest she'd beat him when it came down to what it did.

Noah grit his teeth as he boosted behind a building as a torrent of yellow energy filled the place he had just been.

He was panting. The match was five minutes old and his opponent, the recently wed china LORI was spanking his ass like he had just started playing. He was using his original "master piece edition" EX-caliber. It was leagues behind anything her or her husband could make but still it and his skills had gotten him here, past Riccardo Fellini and his rinescita, past Mao and his crossbone x maoh, past numerous other challengers of world class caliber…

And this woman was beating him as if the others had been noobs for him to slaughter.

He glanced around the corner and had to pull back and boost back to avoid a beam saber spearing his head.

He jumped into a climb and towards the other side of the colony that was the map. She was holding back on the twin buster rifles power in order to try and not have the map change.

He turned as she followed and fired off a few shots from his GN repeater. As before her wings swung around to block them before opening to flap and give her a boost as she again tried to attack him in close quarters.

Soon the battle became a dance. Them dodging and weaving between buildings, trading blows from beam sabers and swords as well as fire from her twin buster rifle and his own rifle.

Every time he thought he had an edge by using a tactic he had used on other wing zero custom variations and even on extra hard difficulty simulated target models of that gundam she would find a way around it.

Finally they had 3 minutes left and he had managed to land a few blows on her body but her defense was just too good.

He was down to just his right wrist saber/Vulcan. She had torn his gundam up, lost his right leg, left arm, right shoulder, his head was crushed from being kicked into a building….he was toast. He had no clue how to beat her but he was running out of time and weapons.

He had tried to match or even out pace her speed using trans-am and she just managed to react fast enough to block him.

Finally his trans-am clock alerted him it was ready for use again and he glanced to his one wrist as he leant against a building. This was it. One final gambit. He had a few steps planned out and a few contingency plans…but it was a long shot.

He grit his teeth and popped around the building spraying fire from his Vulcan….but she was nowhere.

He looked around, at his radar. Nothing. He growled and began to scour the city. Was she going to time out? Would she really stoop to that? He suddenly had an intense dislike for her…

Then it happened. He hovered around a building that was too small to hide a gunpla like hers…and she just materialized out of no-where. Her twin buster rifle was right in front of him, the barrels already glowing.

What could he do? "Think Noah think!" he shouted in his head but all he managed to do was stand and watch as his gunpla was blown away.

He had learned later that sei had helped her layer the inside of her wings with a modified death scythe cloak. It was a last resort measure if she came against an opponent like him and he could have had her if he didn't keep running from her and hiding. That was what ultimately let her cloak.

She then explained he could have used trans-am to move and due to the stress on the gunpla during a full power shot like that, which she had intended to instead use to shoot him through a few buildings, she would have been stuck for a few more seconds. He could have maneuvered around her…and easily stabbed her in the back and won.

Noah sighed as he came out of his thoughts and looked up to murrue as she explained that he needed to tell his team everything EX-caliber could do and it's limits, NOW.

How could he do that? It was a builder's worst nightmare for someone to know everything about their gunpla. It rubbed him the wrong way to even think about it. "I can't." he said and mu growled.

"So what your just gonna freeze up again next time? What can we do to help you if that happens if we don't know what all you can do? What are we supposed to do when the tiger and the other gat series have we all tied up…and you freeze? "He asked angrily as he grabbed Noah's shirt and got in his face.

Nicol gently pulled him off. "Commander getting angry isn't the solution. I`m his subordinate and even I don't know his full capabilities. "He said before turning to Noah. "How about this…what would you normally use to get out of a pinch like this guy tends to put you in? Or what the commander did if you didn't freeze?" he asked as he tried to help his boss.

It was still new to him to have Noah as his commander and he was adjusting to it…but he still felt odd answering to him and even calling him sir or even taking the occasional order from him. But to have to help him get over a novices cold feet basically….this was new…

Noah sighed and took a step back from Nicol before turning around to look at his gundam. "Trans-am…the same thing I DID use to get away from rau le creuset. It's a system where my GN drive goes into over drive, dumping every single particle it can into increasing my movement speed, my gunp-gundams reaction speed, its combat effectiveness. It's essentially pushing my GN drive to the red and when it ends my machine is dangerously low on particles and needs time to spin back up to it's normal particle generation rate." he said and turned back to them.

"The reason it turns red is because it becomes saturated in particles and triples my output on everything, speed, combat effectiveness, and defense. It's also this reason that when I use it you`ll see me leave behind after images. Anyways essentially trans-am is my strongest factor into my gundam because it makes me too fast for most machines to keep up with and I'm too strong for anyone to stop. "He said as he raised an eyebrow to Nicol.

"So what's it got to do with my issue? "He asked

Nicol smiled. "so it's not a specific weapon…it's a system that so long as you have yet to activate it you can at a moment's notice? "He asked

Noah nodded and Nicol snapped his fingers.

"That's it then. If any of us notice your about to freeze up we can just shout to you "trans-am" as a reminder of it so you`ll use It." he said and Kira blinked, unsure of what was going on. Noah deadpanned. It was a simple plan but the best they could do with only a day to train.

Mu shook his head and slowly smirked. "It's just stupid enough to work…"he stated as he nodded. "Ok we need to run some simulations and use it…but…"he turned to Kira and Nicol. "I want you two to use the simulator to run a few fights against Noah. He knows how to fight…and you both could use some pointers." he said before poking Kira's chest.

"You specifically kid. He was right when he yelled at that cagalli girl. You constantly seem to forget to keep an eye on your battery then YOU get in situations where YOU need bailed out due to a lack of power." he said and Kira looked down at the floor, defeated as he nodded.

Murrue nodded at that point. "ok…I want you all back to work running simulations till we can get you all synchronized enough that maybe we can do more than just fend off zaft strike teams…maybe even do more than just survive attacks. I need to go take over to natarle but I want you four to update me when you're done. I want another 4 hours of simulations then you can all get some rest. You're doing great already…but it needs to get better."

They all nodded and headed to their machines to practice more. They were like an MMO strike group.

Mu had slid into being a team player naturally, having originally fought with a squad and just needed to work on being what accumulated to being the teams healer by supporting each mobile suit depending on what was happening with them.

Nicol was obviously the rogue/secondary dps. He was learning to use his knowledge of battery use compared to Kira to switch in and out of his mirage colloid. While it wasn't as much of an advantage in the sand it was still good practice for him in general. He was to help Mu handle the Bu-CUES and other MS while Kira and Noah handles the HVTs.

Kira was their main DPS and secondary tank. He's be using his aile strike pack as usual and would be waltfeld distraction. Once they were either in a safe…well safer zone he was to try and use what power he had left to power the aile pack and join them.

Noah…Noah was their tank. He'd be handling the proto-type and once that was done he's run a solo screen of defense for their escape…

That was if everything went like they thought it might…

On the win of an angel

Waltfeld sighed as he sipped his coffee. It was almost 3 am and he was watching the town of tassel burn. While on one hand the fire was a beautiful contrast to the midnight blue sky and as he enjoyed his coffee he could help but admire its beauty. But at the same time he could help but sigh sadly.

All this to draw out two mobile suits. He had watched as the town evacuated, his men telling everyone to blame the desert dawn for bringing them into this. Once everyone was gone, his men checking every building he had the lesseps open fire. With a single Salvo the town lit up like a Christmas tree.

Behind his group stood the "white knight of zaft" the paladin. Standing almost a head taller than the ginns it was a sight to be sure. Currently greyed out and dull, the gundam was a prototype of prototypes. Almost everything on it was so advanced he may as well have gotten a dossier on it filled with black ink.

Inside its cockpit sat Nina yong. A young coordinator but brilliant at the same time. He had to admit it perplexed him just how little was really known of her and the machine, but they may very well be zafts best option against EX-caliber and he intended to swing everything he had at the mystery machine in time.

But for now…he heard DaCosta come over the radio stating the desert dawn were on their way.

He glanced up to the new machine and nodded. Time to let her flex her muscles. They would be jeeps and RPG's…but she had to start somewhere.

He sighed. Tonight was gonna be a disappointing one if the strike and EX-caliber didn't show up. Hell he'd be happy if just one showed up.

On the wings of an angel.

Noah couldn't help but growl as he looked to the remains of the desert dawn convoy. He saw cagalli with the one boy…he never could remember his name. Kira was clearly having the same reaction as him as the strike landed near them. For the moment it was quiet and the remaining members of the convoy we're given a moment to mourn their fallen.

But that peace was broken as Noah's alarms went off to signal a missile strike. He grit his teeth and moved ex-caliber next to the strike as both machines stood in front of the desert dawn group and raised their shields. His cockpit shook as he took a few missiles on his left arm shield, Kira taking the rest.

He opened a comm line with the kid and sai, "Kira, you deal distract them on the ground, II'll hit them from the air." Said Noah as his words told Kira which strategy he intended them to use. During the earlier training he had worked with Kira as to how to work together. They had come to the conclusion that Noah would take to the air and Kira would hover at best on the ground. This conserved the strikes battery in terms of using its thrusters, and plus Noah could then take any of zafts DINNs they'd eventually encounter while Kira and Nicolas could handle the gat series and he'd eventually deal with the prototype.

As Noah climbed his suits alarms blared as he somehow had an imminent Collison apparently. Thinking it was a Bu-Cue that was trying to jump and hit him he climbed faster. He was surprised though when his screen filled with white and a large zaft symbol. And he found himself flying to the right with a cry of pain as his suit was rocked with a second hit.

"That idiot….he must think he can finish this in close quarters…." Grumbled Noah as he finally gained his Barings, only to have to boost to the left to avoid a black and red beam reminiscent of the Agni cannon. Turning to see the source of the cannon fire he gaped at the sight. It was a tallgeese, EW edition but it seemed to be customized with an Agni cannon pack on the back and hooked to its right shoulder rather than its traditional dober gun. On its left shoulder though were two DINN heavy swords mounted for easy access.

He fish mouthed as he tried to find the words….a custom tallgeese here. He swore under his breath as he found himself having to climb to avoid another Agni cannon blast. The cannon seemed more refined, a cross between it and the destiny's cannon. It was sleeker, and the blasts clearly held more power than Kira's Agni cannon.

He guessed this was another sign of the zero system breaking. But to put its own machine in the series….was the zero system trying to stop him? Was his own creation trying to kill him?

These questions would have to wait though as the pilot seemed to realize they had lost the element of surprise and ditched the cannon, the entire pack falling off as it reached over its shoulder to draw a blade.

Like zechs before them they capitalized on the tallgeese speed, Noah hardly having a chance to bring up his GN sword to block. At that moment he nearly froze as from his view point he saw a giant cracking suddenly run along the width of the blade almost dead at the middle. Shit he needed to fix his gunpla somehow.

The other pilot must have noticed this as when he tried to back away and switch to blocking with his shield they ditched the sword as well and not exactly to Noah's surprise, draw a beam saber from their shield, once again boosting towards him.

These fights seemed to just not be his to win….because this time he had yet to even have a chance to go on the offensive. And now as he watched almost in slow motion as he was forced to block once again with his sword….he blocked the beam saber and watched the crack…become the sword breaking in half.

His world froze and literally went in slow motion, he could feel the slow motion cinematic of the series take him as the enemy pilot drew back their blade and move to thrust it into his cockpit.

This was it. This was his end. He likely had saved Nicol for nothing…and to think he was just adjusting to living the merc life.

He was freezing again and for a moment he saw china's twin buster rifle once more, the yellow glow covering the beam saber. His body screamed to move, to do SOMETHING. He thought of trans-am but his hands wouldn't move. He thought of the beam saber in his own shield…again his hands wouldn't bring up his arsenal. So many options on his gunpla and he was stuck watching as he was about to die…..

Till he heard it…"NOAH! TRANS-AM!" shouted Nicolas over the cons and Noah watched as three beams flew past him and forced the tallgeese followed by a Lancer dart which had a wire attached.

Noah glanced to his left and saw the blitz standing in the sand, he could feel Nicolas determination as it fired a few more shots to keep the tallgeese off him. At that moment Noah found his drive again and grinned. "Good thinking Nicol….when I can pay you remind me to give you a raise." He stated overcome which cause Nicol to sweat drop. He wasn't wasn't being paid?

Noah, with a new drive swung his GM sword back into its locked position…well what remained of it. No one, not even him had noticed how the broken part had seemed to shatter into blue and green particles as it fell.

But as the tallgeese watched the Lancer dart retract towards the blitz it moved to again charge Noah. But he was ready.

As it got close the sides of his GM shield opened up and a series of small missiles fired from it, all of them shootings out and quickly turning towards the wing series machine. It was forced to raise its shield and as it came down it found itself being charged, Noah's GN beam saber coming from the emitter hidden behind the extra targeting lens aimed to strike its own cockpit.

The pilot brought up their beam saber and blocked, bringing a leg up to kick ex-caliber back but it renewed its assault quickly after as it righted itself and with a shower of sparks from its arm ejected the shield from its left arm. Unlike the sword however the shield fell to the sand and landed, just barely missing the Bu-Cue that waltzed had commandeered shortly before and had been intent on attacking the strike with.

Without the shield blocking it Noah brought his left arm up and fired a volley of red death at the tallgeese, again forcing it to go on the defensive before he charged it and slashed at it with his beam saber.

Still holding its shield up the shield took the blow and gained a nasty gash as the pilot boosted back and seemed to falter…

On the wings of an angel

Nina smiled as she saw the enigmatic ex-caliber take to the skies. The moment it did she took off after it

Heine wasn't taking part in this operation as his machine was decided it would only hinder her here. On top of that this mission was merely meant to draw it and the strike out along with send a message to the damn desert dawn.

She raised her shields as it seemed the "angel of death" hadn't noticed her and rammed it, shoving it to her left and turning and raising her cannon. She smirked as he let loose a blast of near position level power. She wasn't surprised when her enemy kinked to the left. She had been counting on it and quickly fired a second blast. This one forced the machine to climb and she realized she would never hit him with such a heavy weapon so she disengaged it, dropping the whole pack before drawing one of her DINN heavy swords and pushing her thrusters to max as she came at ex-caliber.

As she came to meet the gundams sword with her own she found the sword give a little. She smirked. That meant only one thing. Poor weapon maintenance.

With this revelation she ditched the physical blade as the gundam tried to back away and she drew her beam saber. She brought it up to strike at the gundam and when her beam blade met his own physical one…..the blade broke. She smiled as the gundam seemed to freeze. She did it, she caused him to flinch. With that she brought her blade back for a thrust.

She just might win this. She just might kill a menace that has plagued zaft for far too long already. As she thrust her blade forward her attack was interpret with her machine warning her of incoming fire. She boosted back to dodge Salvo of beams from an unknown source.

She turned to see the blitz just in time to dodge its Lancer dart. It seemed to have modified it as she watched it retract. She smirked. First she'd deal with ex-caliber….then she'd eliminate Nicol.

She moved the charge ex-caliber again but was forced to bring up her shield just in time to block a series of missiles it seemed to have been hiding in its shield. She groaned as her machine shook and she found herself closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she moved to lower her shield but she watched as the gundam came at her with again a hidden weapon, a beam saber this time. She blocked it easy enough and as she kicked it back she watched it disengage its shield.

Now it was her time to gape. Really…..this….it wasn't ex-caliber. This wasn't the machine that had single handedly crippled the Vesalius. This wasn't the pilot that was known to freeze if he was out maneuvered. No…this pilot was more aggressive. He wasn't holding back anything. No just standing there and waiting to attack…he was truly on the offensive.

This was made even more apparent when he raised his arm and from a port on it's wrist she found herself raising her shield to block a flurry of red beams. She was about to drop her shield but instead she found herself blocking another saber strike. She had to grit her teeth on this one as he could tell it left a mark.

Suddenly a new alarm blared inside her cockpit. She swore as she had to boost backwards and looked to her power gauge. It was fluctuating. Her n-jammer canceller was failing. She cursed this prototype tech and pushed her thrusters to their limit even as one sputtered and whined, threatening to break on her as she sadly ran from her fight.

Next time….next time she beat him…

On the wings of an angel

Waltzed grinned as he dodged a shot from the strike. This was turning out better then he'd expected. He maneuvered around the agile gundam and let at it, his beam cannons gone already but found himself being shield bashed back. He was all that was left after Kira seemed to enter his berserk state and had trashed them all. He had been lucky to grab this one from one of his troops before he lost his chance to test Kira.

He had been surprised though when he had to jump to the right to dodge a falling shield….ex-calibers shield. He had smiled, thinking Nina was trashing the gundam. But as he maneuvered to attack Kira again he found himself instead halting as he heard DaCosta come over the radio stating Nina was retreating.

Had she not just been trashing the gundam? He opened a communication with the strike. "Good job kid….almost had me. Sadly I have to go. But we'll see each other again soon enough." He said before turning his bu-cue around and driving away from the strike just as it turned grey and he caught sight of the blitz jumping over him to join Kira, likely incase more of his men showed up or he turned to attack the now defenseless gundam.

He looked up and saw ex-caliber hovering in the sky, watching Nina flee. It looked like it had taken a beating but, he had to admit the mystery machine was holding strong. He was tempted to grab its shield but knew Nicol would be on him the moment he turned around and his bu-cue was in no condition to go toe to toe with a fully powered GAT series, even if it was the blitz.

On the wings of an angel

Noah sighed as he sat in his cockpit. Kira had just given Cagalli a piece of his mind, as well as the surviving desert dawn members. Nicolas had found a way to syphon power from the blitz to give the strike enough to get back to the ship so they were waiting on that. Till then Noah was sipping on a water pouch, his gundam holding its shield in its hand like a skater holds his board. He was contemplating how to fix his sword.

Normally he'd simply remove it and put a new one in its place obviously, but this was making something he knew was coming very much a real threat.

Ex-caliber was breaking and he had no way to fix it.

Barring Ian vasti and celestial being randomly appearing he had no way of fixing the gundam until he could get to his gunpla again.

He sighed. Maybe it was time to come clean. At least to a select few. Murrue and Murdock we're obvious choices, likely mu and Nicol as well. Maybe when they reached orb Erica could help him create a device to access his gunpla.

Noah glanced at his monitor and saw a fighter on the horizon. Seemed much was late to the party but also was toting a sword strike pack. With that they could get the strike powered sooner and get going….back to the air conditioned ship.

"Mental note, add some form of air conditioning to the cockpit." He thought as he opened a communication line with mu.

"Hey kid….looks like your suit took a beating…." Said mu as he did a fly over of their area. He whistled as he saw all the destroyed bu-cues. "You and Kira kid….you two sure can become real demons on a battlefield." He stated as he circled back once again. He must have already talked to Kira as he watched the strike drop the aile pack and shield and many versions perfectly to catch the sword striker pack. A moment later the strikes phase shift armor regained its color and it stood up, grabbing the aile shield and following Nicolas in the blitz as they began to move their suits towards the direction that Nicol came from. Both suits would have to walk to conserve power as they made their way back to the ship.

Noah however waited and watched the desert dawn move their wounded out. He was also trying to make a list of everyone who needed to know ex-calibers true weakness….the fact at its core….it was just a plastic model. With another sigh he set the water pouch down and manures his gundam to pick up its shield. As he lifted off he looked over the battlefield as well and with a silent prayer he prayed that all this would turn out to be a horrible dream that he'd passed out in the simulator and was laying on his bed….or in a coma in the hospital.

While he was enjoying piloting a gundam the fact he nearly died almost an hour ago had brought him to a revelation. This was as real as it was going to get. No more parlor tricks, no more holding back. He needed to get his head in the fight here. If he didn't…well he didn't wanna test just how real it was when it came to what would happen if he got shot down. And the fact with every destroyed MS he was killing someone….did that make him a murderer? Or just another soldier killing the enemy?

As he flew quietly back to the ship he tried not to think to hard on all this.

On the wings of an angel

Nina sat in her cockpit as multiple people tried to get her to come out. She had her head in her hands, helmet still on. She was shaking from how that fight went.

She remembered the feeling…the feeling of impending victory….she was about to win….and he stole it from her. This fight taught her that there was still more to be learned about that machine.

She had also been humiliated to find in her surprise at his change of combat tactics and his rapid assault….she had wet herself in fear….

No not in fear…in a realization of…something….and it all came back to her hazy past. She finally finished sulking and heard everyone leave her be.

She didn't wish to leave her cockpit. This chair….the controls, the straps holding her in, the hum of the monitors…it felt more like home then the apartment she woke up in. She could only describe it as if the suit was her mother, the cockpit it's warm, comforting womb. The hum of the machine her mother's heart beat, the screens and speakers the little access a child had to the outside world before its birth. She never wanted to leave her cockpit…. It was her safe place…

Finally she close her eyes and fell asleep….not wanting to leave even after she knew she could have left her cockpit with what little dignity she felt she had, not knowing just breaking that sword had earned her fans throughout the lesseps, her new mobile home base.

On the wings of an angel

Noah had stood before Murdoch, mu, Kira, murrue, and Nicol for five minutes now silently. They were the only people he felt he could trust with this secret. He knew Kira could help find a way to break the zero systems hold on him, Nicolas would help as well, murrue was the captain of the ship and needed to know while mu was his team mate now and deserved to know he was flying with damaged goods, a pile of plastic waiting to break.

He had been silent for five minutes now as they all stood in murrue office and he contemplates his words. Natarle wasn't include due to her detailed reports and he knew if blue cosmos ever learned about boil plavsky particles and his system they could try to come after him for it, use gunpla as a means to get advanced tech, or make wild creations and bring it to life…..that could not happen.

Finally Murdoch sighed and stepped forward to leave but Noah put his hand on the grizzly mechanics chest. The man looked down at him and growled slightly, "look kid….I know your sword broke and your likely gonna apologize for it and say you'll fight better or some shit…but I need to tend to the strike and find a way to fix that thing since you won't tell us. Screw your whole self destruct threat. You've done no nothing but been good to us and it's time I repayed that favor." Said the man but Noah pushed him back gently.

"Please….just one more minute. I have to word this very carefully." He said quietly and Murdoch took his place amongst the group once more. He, mu and murrue's eyes went wide when they heard that. This was likely to be big….

Finally Noah spoke with a sorrow tone, "EX-caliber can not be repaired…." This made them all gasp, Nicolas more then most. The suit that bested him in a matter of minutes, that made dear think twice about rescuing him, that his former commander had hunted in orbit just to have a one on one fight with….was dying?

When no one spoke up Noah pulled out his gp-base and activated it, opening his files and pulling a cord from within, hooking it up to the monitor in the wall. Shortly after the screen sprang to life and instead of a symbol signifying celestial being as they expected…the symbol for yajima trading came to life.

After the 7th world championship they had taken over the gunpla battle and plavsky particle industry and the fiancée to the ceo's daughter, Nils Nielsen, the boy wonder from America, had recreated plavsky particles when they thought it was lost to the world after the discovery of the crystal that had made them and its destruction.

Shortly after the symbol filled the screen it turned black and a neon blue writing began to come onto the screen. Shortly after that finished an image of ex-caliber came up…but it looked different. Almost like a toy.

Noah took a deep breath and spoke once more, "I am not of this world….and neither is my gundam. I can't go too into detail…but the ex-caliber standing in your hangar is fake…or real or…I'm still trying to figure it out. Suffice to say the EX-caliber I claimed to have helped build from the skeleton up…does not exist." He stated and closed his eyes, waiting for everyone to begin yelling at him or swearing…or to be thrown in the brig…again.

Now everyone was looking at him for answers…answers he wanted too. But with his machine degrading…they all needed them.

On the wings of an angel

Ok so sorry for the wait, this chapter…I feel I failed, majorly. Not just because of the wait, but because the ending I feel like I had to cut myself off. The next few chapters I think are gonna be tough for me to write just because I'm losing steam here but I wanna get to a certain point in the story I have planned. If you all hate the story by then lol or you just don't feel like reading…or reviewing, then I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Anyways so yeah…Ex-caliber now has no main blade. But Noah at least has a bit more confidence while fighting. And the new mobile suit threw him off his game enough he's starting to loosen his tongue a bit.

Oh yeah and the zero system seems intent on killing him lol


	10. revelation intermission

**So…I just wanna make a quick note here and once again apologize…though not for the same reason as last time. This time I thought and wrote it out quite well in my opinion…but it just may come around as being kinda confusing. Anyways, please enjoy the next chapter, and I hope soon we will have this story where I want it.**

Noah groaned as he sat in the brig. Why? They thought he was lying to cover up for…well lying about not actually knowing how to fix his machine. Seriously? Who claims a 16 meter tall war machine is a plastic model?

He finally laid back on the bed and glanced over at the wall. He knew it was too good to be true he thought maybe they`d understand…but he also knew they more than likely would react exactly as they had.

*one hour earlier*

Mu, murrue, Murdoch, Nicol and Kira all had blank looks on their faces. Well not so much blank as looks of disbelief.

Noah had just finished trying to explain, in a very vague, round-about way, that this was all some sort of computer simulation of some cartoon in his world and that EX-caliber was a scanned copy of a plastic model he had built for some sort of game system where people fought with said models.

But…when they asked for proof this was all fiction to him he couldn't give any, sounding like some bad sci-fi vid actor stating he couldn't reveal the future for fear of making things worse.

So murrue dismissed everyone but Noah and had tried talking to him privately, hoping to get the truth from him.

"I'm telling the truth! With no way to access my gunpla I can't fix EX-caliber. It's impossible without also gaining access to the formula for E-carbon plating and condensed GN particles!" shouted Noah as he was nearly in tears. Any rapport he had gained with these people was being crushed. But he was desperate. He had hoped telling them everything would somehow end the simulation or something.

After all this was his masterpiece he was talking about here. And the sword just broke! The work he'd have to do to fix it! He was ready to just curl up in the cockpit and beg for it to be over.

Murrue slammed her fist down on her desk and glared at him. "THEN GIVE IT TO US DAMMNIT! QUIT TELLING THESE LIES TO TRY AND HIDE "CONFIDENTIAL SECRETS" OR WHATEVER YOU WANNA CALL THEM!" she yelled right back at him.

She was beginning to tire with these lies. Except now these were blatant, outright lies, just to hide from having to fix his own machine. To think she had begun to actually trust him. The one thing keeping her from ordering him to hand over his login information for his GP-base and train mu on how to pilot EX-caliber if he wasn't going to fight was the conversation she had with the allster girl.

After she had woken up murrue had tried to get her to open up about what her and Noah spoke about but she was tight lipped for once. All she said was that Noah wasn't who he said he was, and that he'd save them all.

It somewhat added credibility to all this but still. What did that make them? It brought this all to to much of a philosophical level of thinking.

"Noah Carson! You are now confined to the brig until further notice….no…until you decide to hand over the necessary data to repair your machine. In all honesty I think the heat has simply gotten to you. Why don't you go cool off and we will see what you have to say later." She stated before pointing towards her door.

Noah blinked and looked like he was going to argue the point but instead his shoulders sunk and he hung his head as he left. He knew the way there after all. No need to get an escort.

*back to the current moment*

Noah sighed and closed his eyes, thinking back to the most recent fight, what the battlefield looked like when he surveyed it after he had landed.

He thought to fights he had in the past, gunpla battles to be exact. He remembered even though they were plastic he could hear metal straining, hear the sparks from broken limbs, the hiss of hydraulics when they stood or moved He also remembered tearing the head off a custom zaku…

His eyes shot open when he remembered seeing the rubber/plastic PVC piece that held the head to the gunpla tear. It still sounded like metal being forced apart but one could clearly see the rubber tearing.

And he had seen footage from sei's first fights with the build strike. He remembered one chick had sabotaged his gunpla and it began to fall apart mid fight. The knee joint came apart….and it was still the same inner skeleton of a gunpla but again…it sounded and reacted like metal.

Could this scanned version of EX-caliber work in a similar manner?

And what happened to the large half of his blade when it fell? What if…since this was just a scanned machine when something broke it disappeared? It would explain why he was able to recover his shield even though he had ejected it!

Noah's faith in his own IQ was renewed as he shot up and rapped on the bars of his cell. "HEY! HEY IDIOT GUARD NUMBER 1! CALL THE CAPTAIN AND TELL HER I NEED ACCESS TO MY MACHINE. I THINK I KNOW HOW TO FIX IT!" he yelled. Oh he hadn't been this excited since he got the idea for this gunpla.

If it worked the way he thought it did, he could treat it like a model…but just with normal metal and such not plastic.

He didn't care that he likely just pissed off the guard and may wait even longer now…he once again had the inspiration to build.

Intermission 2.0

Noah stood quietly in the cockpit simulation of the gunpla battle arena. In the arena was his first new gunpla. A GM sniper variant based on the GM sniper K9 from the seventh world tournament. Currently he was hiding behind a building, waiting, two pistols modeled after the colt 1911 in his hands. This model was called the GM commando. It had a rack on its back for four weapon packs, similar to the kampfer amazing the meijin built but instead they were straight black cases, generated randomly by a device he built and filled with gunpla weapons.

The whole point of the model was to get him adjusted to how random a battle could be. The device could fill the cases with everything from a silly baton or fan to a copy of the twin buster rifle or even the kampfers chain mine whip. Anything was possible and he never knew what he would get till he found the cases.

Yes…found. Upon the matches beginning the four cases would launch off his back and the rack would fold up behind him. They would land randomly throughout the battle field and could only be accessed by him.

This was also to help him get over his anxiety when it came to being out maneuvered as he had to think on his feet more often than not.

The gunplas primary weapon load out was a pair of revolvers in lower leg holsters, the colts in hip holsters, a pair of knives in holsters just above his skirt armor, the same k-bar knife the K9 sniper had on his right shoulder, and usually in his hands to start was a heavy sniper rifle made by a company known as kotobukiya but it had a storage rack on his back skirt armor that replaced the beam sabers on the K9.

He also had a normal GM sniper backpack but it had its own secrets, like what appeared to be two beam sabers coming out just behind his shoulders…but there was no way to remove them.

The model was also colored in digital urban camouflage so it had red, black, grey and white all over it.

Finally he heard his opponent nearing. It wasn't hard too. It was a char's use Z-gok, no true customization but it was also a master piece. When the match began they had landed in a harbor map, so most people though the Z-gok would have the advantage….this was not the case.

As the marine mobile suit rounded the corner one could see it's right arm was torn off and it had multiple bullet holes covering it. The arm had been taken off by a single shot from his sniper rifle which he quickly ditched afterwards.

The fighter seemed to think he was char. He wasn't trying to draw Noah into the water where he had the advantage. Instead he was trying to take Noah out on even terms….which Noah was fine to prove him wrong.

Noah silently began to move to the side. He had a weapon cache close by and he was curious as to what was inside. He hoped it was something that would end this quickly. After all he had spent both his revolvers on trying to end this in their first clash. The pilot may think he was char but for good reason. He seem to have fortified the model to handle fights like this

Finally the Z-gok turned the corner. And Noah rolled away to avoid a few beams fired from its remaining arm. When he came out of the roll he turned around and unloaded on the crimson machine with the custom pistols. The Z-gok was forced to hide back around the corner and Noah spun around boosted up and away. When he landed he saw the weapon cache and smiled. It had landed on a small business building and stuck into the side.

He could hear the Z-gok getting close so he quickly opened it and beamed with pride as it opened up to reveal heavy arms EW chain gun and shield. Oh…this would do just fine.

He grabbed the heavy weapon and boosted back again to the end of the street. There he got on one knee and dug the heavy arms shield into the street like a gundam ground type shield. He then rested the chain gun's main ammo box on it so the barrel could begin spinning up. And just in time. The Z-gok came around the corner and Noah smiled. "Game over." Was all he said quietly before his screen lit up as he pulled the trigger.

For a good 2 minutes the Z-gok stood there being beaten and battered like some cartoon character and filled with lead. The plastic casing of its mono eye could be heard shattering as well as the eye. Its second arm was torn to pieces. The body itself was also shredded.

Finally Noah let off the trigger and watched as the marine mobile suit spazzed and sputtered and finally exploded.

"Battle ended" stated the combat system as the plavsky particles dispersed. Noah had a disappointed look on his face.

Since he had last been in a tournament they had multiple different types now, with the original style now being the "open" tournament, one meant for the best of the best. They had team tournaments, ones for under a certain age, racing tournaments for high speed gunpla.

They even now had a constantly changing one known as the "one year war" tournament. It wasn't UC mobile suit exclusive but it was a giant battleground and was open 24/7 and it would go for an entire year. It was like a constantly changing game of conquest from the game series battlefield.

And when the game had been going for a year whichever side had the most points won. The next day it would start again.

Noah thought about jumping in there. It wasn't really a tournament per say, no payouts or anything but since you could "drop in and out" of the fight to change gunpla, or replace one you lose as it was set to battle damage level a, aka if your gunpla got fucked up…it got fucked up. No simulated damage. When it was done it was done. And like any battlefield you couldn't retrieve it to fix so you had to sign a waiver stating the company that funded it was not responsible for any lost gunpla.

The destroyed models became part of the battlefield, the simulator even adding trees, or moss or whatever as time went on.

Of course rumor had it that at night, when most teams that fought in it, usually die hard, older gentlemen who used it to play out their fantasies of actually being Zeon or federation soldiers, said you could see remote controlled scale models of soldiers running clean-up crews so as to make it so the board didn't get cluttered.

As stated before though you weren't restricted to UC MS though again most people who played it played like they were actually fighting the one year war. So rx-78-2's and zaku's and gelgoogs, all the popular models were a dime a dozen on the field, same with weapons from fallen suits.

But you occasionally would find a garage kit made Leo from wing, or a Taurus. Or a "jinx". Then there were the kids who came in to try and survive as long as they could in their favorite or even custom gundam, thinking they could survive long enough to retrieve it. So you'd see age gundams, gat series, deathscythe's appearing out of no-where, even the occasional sniper shot from a dynames or cherudim.

As Noah retrieved his gunpla he glanced to the crowd around him. Naturally he was in the open tournament. He wanted to fight the best of the best. But so far…no one in the qualifiers compared to his time with EX-caliber and facing off against Nina and Heine, hell even team council princess had yet to be topped.

He placed the weapons and their cases in his randomizer and closed it, listening to it cycle them in and prepare for when he next demanded more cases of it.

He was one match away from making it to the national tournament. This had been the semi-finals of the qualifiers. His next challenger would be a local kid with fiery red hair. He glanced over at his fight and smirked.

"Sekai kamiki….what challenge will you pose? You finally gonna give me the fight I'm seeking?" he thought as he watched the boy go at it with his kamiki burning gundam against an old man who was using a custom master gundam. They were going at it pretty hard, no clear winner yet, but he watched their fight for only a few minutes and he knew the burning boy would win.

He looked past him to see sei and china sitting in the crowd watching both him and sekai. After all the up and coming builder and already proven fighter was using an upgraded version of a model sei built for his old friend reiji.

He decided to go work on his entry for the "one year war" when he beat sekai, and he would, the kid was good but he had a sword….that was it aside from his fists and legs…and martial arts. Noah already had multiple plans on how to fight him even in close quarters.

But when he beat him he'd have a couple months to kill so he planned to work on his intended "re-entry" gundam for operation spitbreak during the evenings, and during the day play out survival missions in the one year war building.

With another glance to his opponents fight he left, his heart and soul still missing something….something only the cosmic era could return…well two things. A challenge…and the woman he longed for…and the one who set him up for Heine to "kill him"

Intermission 2.0

Murrue, Murdoch, mu, and Nicol all watched as Noah examined his gundam. They had no idea what he was searching for but he was not allowed access to his GP-base for the moment. He was currently looking at the joints of the machine, feeling them, pulling at certain panels. Murdoch thought he had lost his mind.

Noah finally worked his way down the gundam and walked over under the stowed and broken GN sword three. His mind was racing. While he said nothing HE WAS RIGHT! The gundam sounded, reacted, and now was even made of metal…but the joints, the inner frame…it was all still the RG exia he used as a base for his master piece edition. While this meant it was just as intricate inside and out, it also meant it could be broken apart easier. Some changes obviously were made in the scanning to make things like how the GN sword/shield system was put together but he could still see how it could come apart. The issue though was still the cracks. He wouldn't lie, it was certainly nice that he now knew he actually COULD tear apart, clean, repair, and put it all back together in his sleep down to the RG-system inner skeleton…but he still had the issue of it being E-carbon armor…not normal metal. But he had an idea.

"I can't fix the sword…I mean I now know I CAN fix it…but we don't have the materials to make what I need." he stated. In truth he had an emergency gunpla repair kit on him at all times…but it was just a quick set resin mold casting kit to make replacement parts on the fly, barely enough to make even an inch of the giant gundam before him.

Everyone watching groaned and murrue got irritated. "So you dragged us all out here so you could examine your machine and say that you still can't fix it. Why?" she asked as she walked up, ready to slap him. Again. Noah turned to her and gave his best imitation of duo's shit eating grins.

"Not enough resin…"he stated before going back to examining his blade. The fact he had examined the neck piece and found it was indeed a rubber PVC piece used in all RG gunpla turned metal it was making him question just how legitimate this all was.

They all sweat dropped. "You really still think this is a plastic model don't you?" asked Murdoch as he walked up and put his hand on Noah's shoulder. The young man looked up at the grizzly mechanic and nodded. "Yeah. Bout after looking at this closer then I have since I got here I know I can fight just fine. I`ll have some issues but a few modifications to the OS and I should easily be able to compensate for any more damage. And yes it will take more. But once we get- I mean if we manage to maybe make a stop in orb I can use morgenroute's facility's to reproduce my emergency gunpla kit on a large enough scale to repair this thing. "He said right as kisaka and the leader of the desert dawn ran over to them.

Murrue raised an eyebrow at this and turned to them. "Is something the matter?" she asked as the two men seemed worried. "It's time. Out scouts saw the lesseps begin heading in this direction as well as already launching bu-cues." said the older man and kisaka just nodded. "If you will allow it, I and cagalli would like to accompany you as you leave. The desert dawn does not want their goddess of victory potentially hurt now that the tiger has found their main base." Stated kisaka.

Murrue mulled it over for a moment, remembering the fiery blonde's interactions with Noah and Kira. "Fine, I'll allow it, but have her try to keep her distance from my pilots or at least watch her tone with them." she stated as she turned the begin barking orders to everyone. As she did so Noah walked up and blatantly reached into her pocket, grabbed his GP base and ran over to the lift for EX-caliber. She began to shout at him but stopped and growled, knowing those two prototypes would be out on the field and Noah was their best hope against them. She just hoped he was right and he could overcome the issues with his damaged suit…

Intermission 2.0

A few hours earlier…

Waltfeld smirked as he looked up at the duel and buster. He had to admit if he saw the entire collection together it would seem like an impressive force. Though by his records the AEGIS was meant to be the units command suit. He mentally shook his head as he remembered his fight with the strike, even as yzak requested info on his fight with it and EX-caliber. To him the strike should have been the command unit. But then again they were never intended to be ground troops and the mobile armor mode of the aegis made it ideal for a commander's suit in space while the strike filled the role of the multi-purpose support suit.

He turned to the young pilots and frowned. "We fared about as well as the le creuset team. Our newest pilot and mobile suit, Nina engaged Noah and the EX-caliber. Suffice to say it still has more secrets hiding and so does the pilot. Also it seems Nicol has taken to their side. I hope that won't affect your performance if you're forced to engage him." Said waltfeld, expecting looks of sorrow and sadness.

Dearka flashed a look of regret but quickly returned to his stoic nature. Yzak meanwhile just got angry. "No sir…it will not affect our performance on the battlefield. We actually fought against him in the orbital battle and confirmed he has become a traitor." said yzak though grinding teeth.

This just made Andrew grin. "Good. Eat up and try to relax, we`ll be going after the legged ship once we have everyone onboard. Oh...and I'll give you your orders now since they are simple. When you launch your job will be to keep the blitz and their new fighter at bay. Leave the strike to me and Noah to Heine and Nina. And should you face Noah…then I wish you good luck." he stated before heading back into the Lesseps.

Yzak growled loudly. "How dare him! He may be higher ranked but the strike is my kill…I deserve payback k for this scar!" he shouted as he threw his helmet on the ground. Dearka sighed though and picked the helmet off. "Chill out yzak. As much as I hate to say it the commander will likely get killed in his new La-Gowe and the strike will be yours for the taking." He said, trying to play to the silver haired coordinators anger to try and calm him down. Yzak nodded, silently agreeing with him and heading onto the land battleship to grab a bite to eat before they moved out.

Intermission 2.0

Noah sat patiently in EX-calibers cockpit…well…mostly patiently…he was already on the catapult. Tallgeese or the guaiz….which would come to face him first. Right now the desert dawn and the archangel sat right in the path of the desert tiger. A bold move, even if it was still straight from the anime. While he waited he had a program running in his gunpla OS to modify it and account for the damages and the broken sword.

"Just think like setsuna…just think like setsuna…"he kept repeating to himself. But at the same time something was bugging him. Like there was a part of this fight that would be an ambush…but what? Finally he overheard the statistics of what they were facing so far and smirked. It was the same as the anime aside from the two prototypes. This would be an easy fight once he…and just as he was thinking it the launch bay doors open and he was told to launch. "Noah Carson, EX-caliber…I AM GUNDAM!" he couldn't help but shout as he was thrown out of the ship. The moment he did so he found himself crushed between two objects. He groaned as his alarms blared about stress on the main gunpla body.

"Yes yes I know…wait…what no!" he shouted as his systems flashed…and died. Just before they did he saw what hit him. The tallgeese and GuAIZ had timed a dual shield bash, likely for whatever mobile suit launched first. Clever bastards, after all a good shield bash was an excellent opening move, it caused even Noah to falter…but this time they applied enough force that with his machines weakened body it had caused his power supply to short out…or..

He brought up his diagnostics on his GP base as un-like the holographic cockpit of the battle arenas his went straight dark, not just faded.

"Shit…"he swore as he saw just what happened…his GN drive got knocked loose. Another example of the gundam being a model still. Since it was an RG model the GN drive was removable without removing the entire backing. This gave it better performance as a gunpla since…well it was a real grade…so when built right it functioned and reacted just like the originally intended model would.

He yelped in pain as he finally felt his machine hit the ground. His systems flashed on for a moment but as he sank into the sand they turned back off.

"Shit shit shit…no…it can't end here…"he grumbled as he tried to think of how to fix this. Luckily, well not for the enemy pilot, Nina and Heine had backed off and waited to let a couple bu-cues who rushed to try and take the glory of ending such an advanced mobile suit for themselves spring the usual surprise that EX-caliber pulled out of its pocket.

The canine-esque mobile suits quickly began bashing the gundam into the sand with their feet, wanting it stuck so they could back off and hit it with missiles before another machine would come to save it. Unfortunately…this helped Noah.

As he grumbled and endured the bashing of his cockpit door the gunpla's systems came back on and he finally got to see what was happening. He blinked when it was just a couple grunt suits trying to bury him. "get off me you stupid mutts!" he shouted.

Before the gundams eyes had been dull and lifeless, the bu-cues not noticing them flash to life. Thanks to that fact Noah was able to have his heat blades spring to life on his shield and brought up and around to the bu-cue directly on top of him. He shielded his eyes as the mobile armor tried to flee but only managed to have more of it's side carved out and less of the heat blade actually dig into the suit as it tried to move away. As it exploded Noah closed his eyes and rolled the gundam to the right. The second Bu-cue attacking him jumped back and tried to open up with its beam cannons but it quickly exploded after a loud snap joined the sounds of the heavy battle.

Noah had activated his MAC cannon in the shield and hit it with a close range rail gun slug. He was lucky though as immediately after he began to raise out of the sand he had to boost to the left and his suit rolled in the sand, missing being impaled by the EFT Guaiz' beam saber. He used the effect of his GN particles to cause him to float up and right himself as the prototype quickly turned and its Artemis cannons dropped down on its shoulders and he fired a volley at him.

Noah raised his shield and blocked the shots while charging his rails for another shot. In that moment he looked around. Just like the anime the battle was less than five minutes old and already with everyone launched it was crazy. But unlike the anime he caught Nicol exchanging fire with Dearka and yzak while MU occasionally swooped in to get the two gat series prototypes to give Nicol some room.

As he maneuvered his left arm to take the rail shot he found himself forced to miss as the tallgeese fired its heavy cannon at him. "Shit…two on one…this may not bode too well unless I can get a good shot on either of them and force them back. "Guess I'll have to use my back up beam saber, keep this close quarters…"he said as he brought his shield up to block another volley from the Artemis cannons.

In truth all it would take was draining the EFT's battery and forcing it to go recharge. So…that's what he'd do. As the cannons and the flight unit fell back against its back Noah burst forward, a buildup of GN particles causing an almost sonic boom like ring behind him as he flew in and swung in a downward slash at the orange machine. This close the tallgeese couldn't use its cannon and so as he blocked a slash from the mystery pilot Noah had the ability to shove the blade back and bring his sword arm around. He smiled as he activated the hidden beam saber and was able to dig it into the EFT's left shoulder.

He could feel the metal melting under the beam saber in the arm rake that controlled his right arm and with a swift flick of his wrist the gundam brought his right arm …well to the right and tore off the arm.

Oh it was game time. He felt better than ever even after his fluke beginning to this battle. As he brought his sword back for another attack the EFT opened up with its hip cannons and Noah grit his teeth as he was forced to take the hit.

But he wasn't beat even as the sides of his skirt armor smoked from the close range rail guns firing shells literally right against them. He brought his left arm up and thrust it forward. Oh how rewarding it was to hear the metal screeching and whining as he slowly but surely bashed the EFT's head off with his shield. At that point the pilot clearly knew this was now a CQB fight and a fist fight at that so it ditched the beam saber in its remaining hand and brought its fist up into EX-calibers gut.

Noah cried out as the cockpit door rang and so did his ears. Again he activated the hidden beam saber but this time the pilot was smart and side stepped the attack. Instead opting to bring its left leg up to try and kick Noah. All this accomplished was him bringing his beam saber down on it and severing the left leg.

Maimed and clearly beaten the suit was forced to retreat, even after using it's thrusters to stabilize itself and show it wanted to keep fighting.

As the battle raged around them the tallgeese landed across from Noah and ditched the advanced Agni-cannon pack and drew one pf its beam sabers. It seemed the pilot learned last time just what Noah could do…or got a taste and knew the ranged assault was not an option.

As they stared each other down Noah took a deep breath. To have bested the EFT as quickly as he had he had faith he could beat back this tallgeese back. And after finding what he had about his gundam he had faith this was no different than a gunpla battle.

He gripped his controls and pushed the right ball forward just as the tallgeese boosted forward and had the broken GN sword three swing out. He'd beat the wing series suit back with the very weapon they thought destroyed.

Intermission 2.0

Sekai had to blink as he watched the gunpla land across from him. It was different then what Mr. Carson had used in the past few matches. Sekai, now 16, had spent the past few years learning about gundam and gunpla. While he recognized his kamiki burning gundam was still nowhere near Noah or sei's building ability, he had improved it, tuned it, and with Shia's help originally built it himself.

He could not understand, after fighting so many opponents who used the same gunpla over and over, who put their heart and soul into it, Noah could be constantly switching gunpla between fights.

The gunpla he was looking at appeared to be a CQB enhanced sword impulse gundam…that was provided his all-nighters watching gundam series and trying to know as much as he could was serving him right.

The color scheme was right, as was the twin "Excalibur" anti-ship swords though they seemed to be modified. On its legs though seemed to be holsters similar to the ones on a…gouf? Yeah a gouf he had seen in Mr. Ral's collection, but the heat machete handles were painted red and didn't have the large broad sword hand guards.

Along with the twin blades on its back appeared to be modified beam boomerangs, the pack made able to hold four or them in a star pattern. It seemed he had modified a pair of destiny arms noticing the handles for two more beam boomerangs in the shoulders and the beam shield emitters in the arms.

The torso was different as well but he couldn't quite put his finger on the base model.

He didn't have time to wrack his mind with the base model of the gundams torso as he was assaulted with bullets. It seemed he had modified the head of the impulse to hold ciw's.

Sekai raised his arms to block the barrage but right as he did so it stopped. As he lowered his arms he was forced to jump to the left as one of the twin anti-ship swords came crashing down right where he was. He quickly jumped back to avoid Noah's quick side chop of the second blade.

It appeared the model was designed to be quick as he had faced other impulse gundams and they were not as fast, even more so the blast impulses. He drew his sword as he didn't see the point in ending this fight quickly. Noah was a skilled fighter and after speaking with sei about this fight the night prior he was grinning as it seemed Noah intended to go all out.

Sekai had been spending time with the builder of the build burning, learning about reiji, the intended pilot of the gundam and how while reiji had been fine at any range, he had been his most devastating close up and with his fists.

He also learned for today's fight that Noah was a tactical genius, he usually thought 5 moves ahead minimum. And he had more back up plans then he could ever imagine. It was a different strategy then sekai, who usually lived in the moment, not planning like Noah clearly had.

As he blocked one of the anti-ship swords with his own he could feel Noah's determination to win. It was rare to find a fighter like him who he could feel his emotions though his gunpla. Sei had said sekai was like a living domon kashu, the protagonist of g gundam and pilot of the burning gundam. He had to admit it made him feel honored to be using the suit as a basis for his own.

Sekai grit his teeth as he was forced back by the strength of the gunpla and finally jumped back and closed his eyes, taking a breath he assimilated with his gunpla, the motion easily triggered now without him having to be "in the fight". As the gunplas extra armor was discarded he sheathed his sword and gripped his fist, side stepping a horizontal slash.

"jigen haoh: Seiken zuki!" he shouted and punched at the gunpla, his right fist glowing with the martial arts power. He was met with a beam barrier and for a moment it held but soon the emitter cracked and he made contact with the armor, bending it and melting it as the impulse gundam slid back with the power of the punch.

He smirked as he noticed the left arm of his opponent was rendered useless, the limb falling limply to the side. It was then he noticed though the beam boomerang from that shoulder was missing. His eyes went wide and he turned to the left just in time to watch as the previously mentioned weapon came around at him. He quickly swatted it away like so many others before and chuckled.

"You think that's going to surprise me?" he asked as he turned back to face his opponent only to have his face grabbed by the working arm.

"No but this should!" he heard Noah shout as soon his main camera went dark as a couple explosions rocked his gunpla. He grit his teeth and switched to one of his alternate cameras.

Noah had jumped back out of his reach. It seemed it all had been an attempt to get his gunpla close enough to use what the burning boy had read on forums as "shin finger" and knock out his camera.

Oh he was fired up. Noah had exploited his attack as a chance to throw the distraction boomerang and then used his moment of pride to get in and hit him. The man was a genius even if his left arm was no longer usable.

But with his main camera out of use he had to use that one technique. Summoning all his will he brought his right fist back. As he did so flames began to surround it and slowly take shape. He closed his eyes and with a deep breath he thrust his arm forward, bringing his left up to block any attack as he sent of the fiery phoenix that had ended many gunpla battle.

He heard it go and go and hit something and destroy it….but no "battle ended" chime from the arena's "announcer" he opened his eyes and saw that the impulse gundam was gone. Blinking he looked around trying to find it and shouted in pain as in his assimilated state his right warm was assaulted by a feeling of heat and flames as Noah revealed himself. He had moved to his right, Noah's left and dodged the phoenix before hitting him with a beam of some sort.

But he had no guns…so where did the beams come from? Finally it ended and sekai looked to see what it was with the camera he had switched to. Noah's chest was smoking….it seemed he had the chest from the strike freedom and had hit the kamiki burning gundam with the cannon in its gut.

He tried to move the arm but it refused to respond…it was gone. He sighed and got ready to use his attack once again but instead found Noah once again in his face and he couldn't help but scream as he felt heat and pain run across his gut.

Noah had taken his moment of surprised and floored it over to him before digging one of the Excalibur swords into his waist and dragging it through. Sekai vision went black though as he felt the same heat hit his skull and begin to drag downwards as Noah brought his second blade to cleave the kamiki burning gundam from 2 pieces into 4.

Intermission 2.0

Noah panted as the plavsky particles around him faded away. He had done it. He won. And with his "EX-caliber imposter" gundam. But when he saw the "burning boy" collapse he realized he may have over done it by cleaving the gundam into four sections when the kid was assimilated. Oh he hoped he didn't do any permanent damage.

Quickly he ran around the arena and watched as the medic's checked on the kid. Ever since his run through with team try fighters "assimilation" was becoming more and more common with passionate fighters who were using specially treated "plavsky particle" parts to bond with their models so medics were mandatory at the tournaments in case something like this happened.

He looked up to see the kamiki burning gundam in four pieces, with it being the open tournament the battle damage level was set to A, any and all damage would be inflicted on the mobile suit, no simulated damage.

Finally one of the medics looked up to him and nodded. "He'll be ok...he will need some more advanced care though to ensure no damage was done to the brain. But he`ll be fine. "Said the medic as they got sekai on a stretcher and moved him away from the arena.

Noah knew why they mentioned that, the kid's body reacted as if it were the model, if its arm broke then the kids arm would hurt like all hell as if it got broke. So to have his body cleaved in four…well…Noah knew he had yet to experience such damage and he hoped the boy was ok.

Not wasting any time though he collected his model as well as sekai and left, sadly not even stopping to thank sei and china for cheering him on. He had work to do….

Intermission 2.0

Nina grit her teeth as her and EX-caliber crossed swords. His fighting style was way different than before. He wasn't holding back. He was giving it his all. But why change? Was it the broken sword? Was it the fact he had shown them everything he could do? She was confused by this rapid change and as they both jumped back she only became more annoyed with the pilot. Who did he think he was? He first shows up and smoothly waits till the last second to dodge fire from a zaft capital ship before nearly crippling it.

Now he no longer just stood there. He acted. He was aggressive. He was FAST!

The last part she had to admit as she boosted to the side to dodge one of his rail gun shots but soon found herself blocking another strike from that broken sword. She growled and pushed her thrusters forward, actually having to step, physically with her paladin's feet, forward in order to start pushing him back as the amount of particles his engine put out grew.

Finally she gasped as he pushed off with his feet and did a front flip over her. She spun around and went to bring her shield up but instead found it no longer there and his sword arm raised.

Her eyes went wide as she stared into the mismatched colored eyes of the mobile suit, hearing her left arm, crash into the sand. Her paladin gundam took a step back and she screamed as his machine spun around and with a cross slash he left a large gash in her torso and cut her right arm off before a second spin had him kicking her back, sending her machine into the sand.

She was panicking, he was faster than they thought. And he hadn't even turned red…what the hell!?

Finally she got DaCosta over the radio after the battle started to calm around them. It was a retreat order. She ground her teeth together. She had no choice. She couldn't keep fighting. She used her maneuvering jets to get back on her feet then took off, flying back towards the Lesseps.

As she did so she caught the angel of death look to the legged ship before flying away, likely having his own retreat orders. But not before he tore her shield off her fallen arm. A trophy? Was it a new pilot?

Nina decided she'd think on it over a glass of whiskey later. Another defeat, and this time her machine was trashed as was Heine's EFT Guaiz.

As she landed her machine in the Lesseps and walked it to its berth she sighed. This was going to only complicate things…

Intermission 2.0

Noah sighed as he stood before the massive arena. He could hear the telltale signs of battles going on, he smirked as not to far away he also could hear a group of "pilots" chatting as they waited to ambush another group, like sitting around a camp fire. Just recently in fact a small motel was added to the arena, as some people came in groups with multiple gunpla to fight with, fighting in teams, heading to bed at times to regroup and strategize. It was perfectly legal even to hide your gunpla and leave it in the arena, disconnecting from it. But it left it vulnerable while you were away to an enemy finding it and destroying it.

Noah held up his first machine for his first time in this war. A custom zaku warrior phantom. As usual it had some inspirations by former world series fighters gunpla, with heat machete sheaths on its legs like the famous blue giants "gouf r35", and a pair of revolvers replacing the zaku's grenades though those had been moved to the back skirt armor. These though were more like hand cannons, not the "zaku amazing's snub nose pistols. They had longer barrels and were more along the lines of the famous "peacemaker"

The zaku was painted black and had a modified command antennae that was longer and segmented by blocks. It also did not hold the standard beam carbine. Instead it had a special dual barreled beam cannon attached to its right arm which had a blade sticking out of the back end but not like an exia's blade. No something was different about it. And people would learn soon enough.

In its left hand though was a custom "tommy gun". The zaku phantoms shields on its shoulders still held the two beam tomahawks within but the four spare magazines for its original beam rifle had been modified. They were smaller and white, and the spikes on the outside had small round bases two them before the spike began.

On its back though was its crown jewel of customization. A zaku blaze wizard pack with a variety of missile types available, but it also had been modified to account for the buster's anti-armor shotgun and beam rifle attachments.

This zaku warrior was armed to the teeth, certainly more than ready for war though Noah was concerned it was overweight. But the spikes would balance that out.

He had signed up on the federation side. It was part of his plan, as all but the last machine he had planned, if he lost any here, were technically Zeon or zaft based mobile suits. As he put the zaku phantom down on the launcher tray and it was scanned, its snow white mono-eye lit up and it prepared for launch.

"Noah Carson, phantom pain, launching!" he said loudly and the zaku rocketed out the simulated catapult.

As it showed where his machine had been deposited he found himself landing in a smoke filled former battle field. No…he looked around. Not battlefield. Ambush site. He quickly spun around and the twin beam cannons, spun in their mounting rack on his arm to plant the sword on the back end deep within a goufs torso. It had been covered in an active camouflage cloak. Noah withdrew the sword and jumped back, the two shield swinging forwards to block the explosion, and the sniper round that bounced off them as it pierced the explosion.

He grit his teeth as he quickly found out where the shot came from. He had to boost to the side to dodge a second shot but he opened up his arsenal on his control ball and raised his right arm, the twin cannon s spinning back to face in front of him. His shields blocked a third shot as the cannon charged up and finally a torrent of green energy flew from them.

A moment later an explosion rang off in the distance. Not wasting time Noah ditched the one shot cannon, a modified pair of godfrieds off of an archangel model. From those though the sword ejected and he caught it in a reverse grip.

He was only in the match for barely 2 minutes and already had 2 kills to his name. He had to give thanks to the council princess team…they made for great battle practice. His reflexes were as fast as ever, his "battle sense" sharp and ready to read any situation. He felt alive again for that moment, that hole was filled that sekai even had only filled for a moment. He was in a war again. Normally he'd worry…he wasn't a soldier, why should he feel so at home just because he had destroyed two MS?

As the phantom pain faded from sight, literally becoming invisible once he decided no one else was around after he made one last sweep with the mono-eye. No one was around, it seemed likely the team he just killed had been a one two punch. The amount of GM models that were in pieces on the ground proved they had been an effective team…till they came against an actual gundam pilot.

He activated his hover mode and moved away from the site, his model invisible to the naked eye, even the hover mode was concealed as he moved through the trees to go confirm his sniper kill…

Intermission 2.0

Murdoch sighed as he looked at the arm sitting in his hangar. Noah had brought it back and told him a way to remove the remaining beam saber, charge it, and mount it to the strike. Then melt the rest of the shield and arm down and call him when it was done as he went off to find something to eat.

He looked at the shield and the rectangular beam saber handle and sighed. That would be easy to do so…but why couldn't he be an engineer. Yes he was one technically, but not the find that could replicate it. In all honesty the bar shape the beam saber handle had would go perfectly as a replacement to the armor Schneider in its waist. But he only had access to one beam saber…why didn't Noah grab the other arm, or at least the saber? He growled and sighed as he got to work. Why did these pilots have to be so…snobbish?

Intermission 2.0

Noah grinned as he dug into his food. He was sitting with Nicol while they both ate. Nicol had only played a small part in the fight earlier, so he had come in once the archangel was on the move once again. Though once Dearka and yzak had jumped into the sand, he had openly admitted to Noah he had wished his new CO had been available. He could have captured them. Then it was only a matter of time till they had athrun. And Nicol knew that zala would easily join celestial being. After all, their mission…he could see it in his friend's eyes, it was what he wanted, especially once he had found out Kira was the pilot of the strike.

"So…let me get this straight. In our next series of fights you want to try and run operations at the same time to capture the rest of your former unit? What happened to understanding you are a traitor to them? They would rather kill you then join us. And you swore to leave them behind when you joined celestial being." stated Noah as he held his fork up and pointed it to the green haired coordinator.

Nicol gave him a dead glare. "I actually didn't…unless it was in the fine print. And celestial being, not to mention this ship, needs more mobile suits if we are gonna stand a chance against zaft AND the earth alliance…well us anyways. Who better than my former unit? We are all good friends, I don't have to shoot them down, and zaft loses its biggest advantage now over the earth alliance. It think it's a sound idea." Stated Nicol as he ate. He was wearing his blue earth alliance uniform though Noah wouldn't be surprised if he wore his zaft red one the crew wouldn't give him a second glance. Most of them were used to him by now.

"You're serious? "He asked, raising an eyebrow as he took another bite of his food. The military rations were crap…but he was starving after that fight. He really was slowly learning to live like a soldier. But now that they were out of Africa he knew they would easily have a few days before zaft attacked again. He was wondering though if offering one of his beam sabers to Kira would be a good idea or not. As long as they got into their docks now and then to recharge they would work anywhere, after all the GN particles worked different then thermal weapons…especially for when Kira took on the gogg wanna-bes

Nicol nodded. "Dead serious. Yzak yes he will be trigger happy as can be when we catch him, and Dearka…well…he`ll be himself. But after seeing what you could do to that new model, there's no telling how easy it would be for you to capture them. And after then athrun will join us once he sees…well even Dearka working with us. Plus if it means he won't have to fight Kira anymore…."Nicol left that last sentence open as they both knew obviously how close Kira and athrun are. Noah himself, while never voicing it to the green haired coordinator, was still unsure as to Kira's true sexuality.

The gunpla battler sighed and set his fork down. Putting his chin on his now folded hands. "What if…hypothetically I told you I already knew that we will capture Dearka…and that it is my own personal opinion that we leave them be for now. The gat series can't fly, hell Kira can somewhat but that's nothing like myself. To have the full gat series aboard this ship as it stands now…would be pointless. Yes it takes them out of zafts hands and yes you get your friends back…but ultimately their machines would just take up hangar space. If we get the chance to catch them we will, if not…then there's nothing we can do but shoot them down." he stated as he went back to eating.

Nicol could only stare at him. What…hypothetically? He…the man was only becoming more and more of a mystery wrapped up inside an enigma and filled with questions. He finally gave up on the subject and returned to his own food. At least he had proven to himself Noah would listen and was open to ideas.

Intermission 2.0

Kira sighed as he reached the airlock for the aft exterior airlock. It felt odd, being on earth and all, but to think he had told flay him had needed some air when she tried again to get him into bed. Especially after that time she disappeared on him back in the desert after they landed on earth she seemed…less conflicted…but also didn't seem any happier about sleeping with him.

He shook his head. Why was he even worrying about why the girl of his dreams was sleeping with him? He was 16, he had a super crush on her, and she regularly wanted him in bed…but…was that really what was on his mind?

He opened the door and had to raise his hand as he stepped outside. It was so bright…but the moment he felt the sea air on his face he felt himself relax. He had his ensign jacket in his arm behind him as he walked out to the center of the deck. He closed his eyes and thought back to his discussion and fight with waltfeld…and Noah.

He laid his coat down and sighed as he laid his coat out on the likely warm metal deck and then laid down on it, looking up at the sky as he thought about everything so far.

He remembered waltfeld asking him and Noah how you knew who won a war. As he said there were no points. It wasn't a sports game one could win or lose. Then came Noah's rant about how people needed to get over themselves and put their weapons down…he nodded as he thought about that. While he knew that until they him and his friends got to orb finally, till he no longer had to pilot the strike to keep them safe….he could never put down his weapons.

He thought back to his fight with waltfeld and how he had stated he wouldn't give up until one of them was destroyed. It made him think about how easy it was to forget that humans piloted mobile suits and mobile armors. Mechanized warfare made it easy to just go on a killing spree on a battlefield and not realize how many people you had killed.

But the same went for just acting on orders. He knew there were likely zaft soldiers who went about attacking towns and destroying convoy's that had no idea just what was inside. He had spoken to Nicol finally earlier, his first real talk with the fellow coordinator.

The stealth pilot was more than happy to discuss athruns life in the plants and Kira was happy to hear things were going well for him. He asked ab out the rest of his former unit, what the other 2 pilots were like. It was then he learned the name of the duel's pilot, yzak joule. A hot headed kid who fought with his hatred over the bloody valentine event fueling him. Kira told him about how he nearly shot down that shuttle and he remembered hearing nicol's reaction.

It was so sad. He had stated he was glad Noah stopped him. Yzak was a military man obviously…well boy, but still he also followed the general standing rule of women, children, and civilians in general were not ok to mercilessly slaughter unless they had intent to kill you as then it was self-defense. Had that shot connected and he learned of the military shuttles true occupants…well whoever told him may have well have given him a pile driver to his gut.

Kira closed his eyes then and remembered the few moments of Noah's last fight he caught. How he had moved so swiftly, so fluidly, not a single twitch of his controls was meant to be lethal as he disarmed, literally, his opponent and then kicked them back. He likely would have used his thrusters to perform a killing strike but fate intervened and they were called back for a retreat. If only the strike moved like that. Sure when he went into this "berserk" mode, when he saw that seed burst he couldn't control himself, but still his actions were no less precision then Noah's, not a single ounce of energy that he used, either his own or the strikes was wasted…to his ability. Were he able to use that machine better he may have been able to save Mr. Waltfeld and still gotten away with the archangel.

Just as he heard the deck door open he realized he had been crying this whole time. He quickly stood and wiped away his tears, hoping it wasn't Noah or cagalli, knowing they both likely would lecture him. He was a sensitive guy…or so his parents said. Nothing was wrong with crying….

Right as he thought it he heard Nicol chuckle. "Nothing wrong with crying. I can come see the Indian Ocean another time if you need some space. "Said the green haired coordinator as he stood behind Kira, careful not to step on his jacket.

Kira turned around and bent down getting his jacket. "I wasn't crying. "He said defensively but as he left nicol's hand jumped out and grabbed his wrist. "Stay. You certainly need the fresh air more than me. I`m sure it's tough on you…"he said, leaving that sentence open for the obvious reaction…

"What's tough on me? I`m fine. "Stated Kira, his eyes already threatening to tear up again as he was worried he'd get lectured. Another pilot on the ship, another person for him to hear tips about being a man or a soldier from.

"Being a soldier. You're just a tech student. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Before athrun left in the aegis I had been about to take his place and fight murrue in the blitz so he could go get that unit back to our ship. It's because of him telling me to continue as planned that your likely even alive." Said Nicol as he walked to the railing and leaned on it, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath.

"And now you`ve had the same misfortune as he has ever since Heliopolis…knowing your opponent face to face and becoming friends with them." Said the coordinator somberly as he turned around. "But you…you had the even worse misfortune of knowing YOU killed him. Knowing his face, his voice, his name…it makes it all harder. It's easier to just shoot down a MS…but when you know them personally…"

Kira's eyes went wide. He had never realized it…Nicol knew exactly what he was going through…well…sort of. He didn't have the burden of knowing…no…Kira's view of the coordinator shifting immensely as it occurred to him he knew EVERY pilot or at least knew the general id's of everyone he had had to shoot down since he joined them.

"I'm sorry I…"Kira started but Nicol held up his hand. "It's fine…I understood what it meant when I joined Noah, and I know that they knew what they were signing up for when they joined zaft. "said Nicol as he glanced to the door and they both saw cagalli walk out. They both audibly gulped. As they both realized they had red eyes from shedding a few tears.

The blonde rebel quickly noticed and put her hands on her hips. "I'm not even gonna ask…"she said before walking out and wrapping her arms around them both. "I'm so sorry…to both of you…" she whispered as they all silently began to cry…it was time they all had had a moment to just let it out.

**Intermission 2.0**

**OK! So…to keep my writing a bit spiced up and my interest going I'm gonna be doing these kinda chapters. Confusing I know, but they won't all be this long or ramble or have so much explanation. Also I know this my bring up question s as to just how long this is after the original build fighters and after try…well if china being married and pregnant didn't give it away it's been at least a couple years since try, I'm not sure how old the try fighters were but I know celestial sphere and that group that the guy with the custom double zeta helped were in their last year of what here in the US/ Washington cause I know some other states still use "junior school" or whatever, anyways they were in their last years of middle or high school, with saga and the blonde builder of the transient being at least late teens. Anyways so I assume 3-4 years would easily put sekai around 16.**

**Anyways tell me what you think…and yes…you say anything I will find a way to ban you from reading my stories. But I gave Nicol, cagalli and Kira a moment to cry…seriously…Nicol is fighting his own people who he once fought for and he's even killing them, no one goes forever doing that without breaking down or becoming a pure psychopath.**

**Then we have Kira…yeah he just needed a moment to cry with EVERYTHING that has gone on since his last cry time XP yes I will laugh at him but that's cause I find him to be a pathetic main character for a gundam series. Even qautre had more balls then him and he was quite adamant he hated killing**

**And cagalli…well…she lost the guy she had a crush on, she nearly died a few times…and now she's with two guys who are crying…why not take a moment to let it all out? **

**Anyways again, tell me what you think, if you like this, getting glimpses of what happens after Noah "dies" yeah…kinda let that one out of the bag, as it all converges on that it`ll limit how many chapters of filler I need before I can have him jump back in to operation spitbreak. Also when I switch to Nina during the "future flashes" as I'm gonna call them, you`ll get a few good ideas as to what's gonna happen with her.**

**OH! And shin will be making an appearance, like Barry Allen on arrow he`ll make an appearance which will shoot off into its own story that will converge with my intended sequel, oh and just before things get too confusing, this story will have two spin offs before the story ends, with one ending well before that, and another ending with the opening of my sequel that takes place during destiny. **

**Lol ok…Annnd…read and review…hope your still enjoying it.**


	11. dive dive dive!

**So kind of a short chapter, but I have come to realize the next chapter means we are finally in orb if you follow the series, please if you want one more chapter before I drop the action and turn this into a romantic comedy for a couple chapters…well now your time to speak up.**

**Anyways, enjoy**

**Dive dive dive!**

As everyone was relaxing Noah was in the hangar with a heavy leather jumpsuit on and a pair of goggles. Murdoch had managed to melt part of the tallgeese's shield and had managed to work with Noah and Nicol in order to find a way for Noah to apply it in its melted form the EX-caliber. Since it wasn't much Nicol was now wearing a similar get up while sanding down the cracked in the left arm he had just filled in with the makeshift welding filler. Murdoch was working on melting more down while Noah was using a variety of equipment to round out the jagged edge of his broken blade.

Since he couldn't reproduce the condensed GN particle materiel that once made his blade so deadly he was satisfied with coating his blades "tip" with the melted down metal and rounding it out and shaping it into a blade. While it wasn't perfect, turning it into a short sword was better than leaving it cracked and broken.

He was even happier when the alarms blared. "finally….it was about time." he said as he quickly dropped what he was doing and decided to forgo his flight suit, climbing right into EX-calibers cockpit. Within moments he had a line to the bridge. Murrue opened her mouth to tell him her plan of attack but he quickly beat her too it. "Yes yes, a pair of DINNs. Listen have Nicol and Kira launch and deal with the DINN's. My gundam can move just fine underwater and certainly better than the strike or blitz. And if there are DINNS this far out where do you think they launched from? "he asked as murrue's eyes went wide. She hadn't even gotten to tell him about the DINNs but he was right. This far out them were scouts for a sub…a sub containing aquatic MS.

"Fine, we`ll go with your plan. Just be careful. I assume we won't need any extra equipment to recover your suit?" she asked as Noah made sure Nicol was safely off his shoulder and moved EX-caliber to the catapult. "Yes I'll be fine. Just open the doors and I'll jump out." He said. Sure enough a moment later light filled the launch tunnel and he began to walk his way to the end. He looked down, watching as the water pass under the ship. This was the Indian Ocean…and if he wasn't careful it could be his grave.

"nothing ventured…nothing gained." he said before with a burst of GN particles the GN machine burst out of the tunnel and dived right into the ocean.

Noah looked around as his screen was covered in water. The combat with the DINNS had just begun, he had jumped the gun a bit but it was better to be waiting then…he grit his teeth as his gunpla shook as one of the Goon's rammed him like it had Kira in the show. He looked up and watched it pass overhead. He could just hear them making the same cocky comment as before of nothing beating their aquatic MS underwater.

"mental note, make a custom hy-gogg when I come back…mobile armor level…" he thought as the aquatic MS came around and raised its arms ready for a torpedo barrage. "There's just one thing…particle beams are different from thermal dumbasses." He stated as he raised his right arm and fired a single shot from his GN repeater. The surprised pilot didn't have a chance to move out of the way. The beam connected and he knew that above water the sonar operator would pick up that he had destroyed one of the water bound MS.

He turned to see the second GooHn seemingly trying to decide to attack him or the archangel. The fact he could fire his beams underwater would be a game changer when zaft found out. So to allow him to think that one shot was a fluke he raised his left arm, his rail gun system ready. He had the trap set…now…

The pilot took the bait like it was candy. He boosted forward after the two torpedoes hit EX-caliber, the air in the water from the explosions masking Noah's true intent. As the pilot got closer he tried to pull back. The air bubbles faded and he saw Noah's heat blade were warmed up. After all with no other conductor nearby the electrified blade would cause essentially an EMP for EX-caliber when he tried to charge them up. The torpedoes hitting him made it seem like just that had happened. Instead the aquatic MS soon found its main camera gone and its head impaled.

Like the cancer that caught death scythes head the GooHn fired a few shots at him hoping to take the legendary gundam down with him. But again as the air bubbles cleared the gundam floated there just fine. "Done yet? Good. My turn." stated Noah as he contacted the pilot. As sadistic as it was he wanted to hear this.

A moment later his speakers filled with the screams of the pilot as he charged the rail gun and with it now being attached the the aquatic MS it had a new conductor. The electricity coursed through the amphibious war machine and began to electrocute the pilot in the cockpit. Finally Noah finished him with a shot from the charged railed and boosted up and away. To his surprise he had to admit as he burst from the water, his suit hunched slightly, and Noah could just picture how he looked as one of the DINN's seemed to turn to notice him. Oh what he would have given for sing zero custom or the strike freedoms backpacks. To just flex those wings as the water rose under him from the second GooHn exploding…even he would be terrified.

Just as he was about to move for the flying purple target it was swallowed by a hail of gunfire. As the skygraspers sailed past it though unlike in the anime, as it lost a wing it stayed, looking to Noah with clear intent for the pilot to go down swinging rather than run. After all either way the submarine carrier would know they had failed.

But at the last second it turned and began to fly away, apparently deciding going back with his tail between his legs would be better for him then suicide by Noah. But just as he turned around a green beam pierced the back of his mobile suit and it exploded.

Noah turned around to see the strike already moving inside but the blitz had its right arm raised, the barrel of its trikeros beam rifle smoking. He nodded to his subordinate's decision. "Those who lay eyes on a gundam shall not live to speak of it…maybe we should make that our motto…"he said to himself as he moved to the open launch tunnel and landed, following Nicol inside.

The battle had been quicker than the anime but then again it wasn't just Mu and Kira protecting the archangel anymore. Nicol said had stated they needed more MS to fight zaft…Noah knew his EX-caliber was on a time limit as he could feel it in the way it moved. What little repairs they had made were literally no better than the emergency repair parts he made from his small resin kits back during his original shot at the World Series. The metal was tightening due to the cold water on the still warm metal. He just hoped he could hold out till orb. Wouldn't be long now…

Dive dive dive!

Heine couldn't believe what he was hearing. He and Nina had been attached to the le creuset team in an effort to help them bring down EX-caliber and the legged ship as their suits were the only ones capable of sustained flight. Nina however was overseeing the repairs to her suit. He was still wracking his brain over how the enigmatic machine moved this las round. Not only did he maim both their suits to where he could have stabbed them in the back and ended it when they were running, but he did it so quickly. Then again the battle in general was only about 5 minutes long.

He looked up though when yzak got all pissy over hearing they weren't in charge of the operation.

"But this is our job!? We have unfinished business with them!" he shouted just as the doorbell rang and athrun announced his arrival. The veteran pilot could only smirk as athrun entered. Had EX-caliber not trounced and captured the stealth gat series machine Nicol would have been with him…then again they also would have one less machine to worry about as according to audio records during the combat in orbit Nicol was confirmed as the pilot of the blitz still and having turned traitor. He even tried turning yzak and Dearka! The nerve of the green haired teen.

The blonde commander raised his hand as athrun walked in. "I'm aware of this yzak but it's out of my hands." he stated as Dearka stood up. "No this is just bullshit is what it is!" he exclaimed, throwing his hand back to motion towards Heine. "What about them? I thought they were brought down to earth because their units are the only ones deemed capable of defeating EX-caliber!?" exclaimed Dearka.

At this point rau was beginning to lose his patients with the teens. Athrun and Nicol had always been the more level headed of the four. And with Nicol gone it seemed yzaks hot head was becoming contagious. "Fine…the best I can do is form you all into a team and assign you to a submarine carrier." He stated as he watched athrun seem concerned about his team mate's reactions to the situation. "The team will consist of athrun, yzak, Dearka and…"he had to bite his lip. If Nicol had been here it would be easy to form this team and just have Heine and Nina attached to them like they already were. Then he remembered the latest prototype machine had been brought to earth like Nina and Heine as an attempt to throw zafts best weapons at the mystery sword wielder. Plus yzak would enjoy this one.

"And shiiho hahnenfuss." He stated which obviously got a reaction from yzak "WHAT! HER!? WHEN DID…" he yelled and physically lifted his chair, throwing it against the wall purely due to his rage forcing him to take physical action. "WHEN DID SHE COME TO EARTH?" he yelled as he heard the name. As they spoke the brunette in question was looking over her prototype CGUE DEEP arms. While not designed in any way to specifically combat EX-caliber, the DEEP arms heavy beam cannons were believed to be a good way to keep the mystery machine back and she had originally been intended to be assigned to the base. She had no idea she would be being assigned to a team or let alone to a team…that her boyfriend was a part of.

While having to keep from cringing at the sudden outburst of rage rau kept his calm and collected demeanor. "She should be in the hangar now, ensuring her machine is properly stowed away. She was supposed to be assigned to the base as a counter measure for EX-caliber with a prototype CGUE named the CGUE DEEP arms. Most of its technology is based on what your team recovered from the gat series. But to keep her sequestered here at the base would be quite the same don't you agree?" he asked with a smirk as yzak blushed.

"Yes sir…she is quite the accomplished pilot after all." Stated the silver haired coordinator.

"Very well. Then the team is decided. And the leader shall be…athrun. Go get some rest and pack up, I'll see too it she is informed of this change in plans. "He stated before grabbing his things and leaving in silence.

"Great…now were the zala team. And we have her on our team…"complained Dearka. First Nina sees right through him back in Africa, now they had yzaks girlfriend to deal with. This would be fun.

Dive dive dive!

Meanwhile on the archangel Kira was tending to flay. Shortly after they had gotten over the water she had found herself feeling ill. While Noah had come to check on her and seemed almost amused, Kira was having a small panic attack every time he evaluated her symptoms. It was mostly just a fever and nausea…but it kept creeping up in his mind about how many times they had rolled around under his sheets. He had just finally begun to adjust to piloting the strike to protect his friends, thinking flay could be…well…he didn't wanna think about that. After all sai was likely pissed at him already after he got off with flays father…but to think he could have done that….

As he laid a fresh cold towel on flays forehead he looked down at her. She did look pretty sick but he had to admit part of this felt like it was pure acting. Ever since she found him and Nicol and cagalli talking she seemed to want him near her more and more often. Was she actually wanting him? Was she jealous of cagalli for some reason?

Why does it feel like the ship is rocking so much?" asked flay as her eyes slowly opened to the feel of the cold towel. Kira had to chuckle at that. "Considering we aren't actually riding on the water and this is original a space oriented battleship I doubt the ship is actually rocking." he said as she smiled up at him.

"Thank you Kira. I don't know why I'm so sick. But I guess it is my first time over the ocean…who knew sea sickness could make someone feel so horrible." she stated as she closed her eyes again. Right as Kira was about to finally voice his fears the alarms began to blare and miriallia came over the intercom instructing everyone to go to level two battle stations.

"Another attack already? Oh god that's really gonna make the ship rock. Go…go fight. I`m gonna stay here and try to keep my lunch down." Said flay as she covered herself with her blanket and waved Kira off.

He raised an eyebrow to that but didn't argue with it as he got up and ran towards the hangar.

Not known to him flay uncovered herself and sighed. She was still having those déjà vu moments, they were even in her dreams. While she hated this feeling in her gut of wanting Kira to fight till he died…she had to admit mirroring the tactics she used in that "universe" as Noah described it made her feel a bit better as with sai gone she didn't have someone hovering over her and making sure her every need was met anymore. Acting like this though she had Kira wrapped around her finger and so he made sure she was ok. And…while feeling guilty about this more than anything. She may have overplayed the nausea to where she could see Kira was, naturally as a teen boy, fretting over having potentially impregnated her. She herself had no such worries. While she did have some light nausea it was mostly due in fact to the fact she did have some sea sickness, still she did not know how but the moment she got a whiff of the salty air of the sea she had begun to feel sick.

Still though she sat up and closed her eyes, saying a small prayer for Kira and the other pilots rather than wishing Kira's potential demise while protecting them. She then uncovered herself and stood up, taking a moment to balance herself. She needed food…that was for sure and so she fought her urge to run to the restroom and lose what little she had eaten and made her way to the mess hall.

Dive dive dive!

Noah braced himself as his machine once again jumped into the water. 3 hours…that was how long he had had to make more repid repairs, most of which was re-repairing the damage the GooHns had re-opened.

Preparing his GN sword three he began to try and find his targets. It was only underwater suits this time. Smart. He looked to his left and saw Kira's sword strike land near him. While risky to bring the suit underwater, Kira was not carrying the anti-ship sword this time. It was still stowed on his back. Instead a moment later he ignited the GN beam saber in his hands. Noah had to admit the beam saber certainly didn't look bad in the strikes hands.

Finally Noah's new sonar program he wrote up found their targets. Three aquatic MS. Two GooHns…and the ZnO. The weird fish and the gogg wanna-be. He really wished he had a HY-GOGG right now. The look of that machine…it was meant to be menacing. Instead it made him want to smack it out of the water then shoot it.

As he and Kira readied themselves for the trio Noah had to blink as something crashed down onto of a GooHn. It seemed even the other two suits were surprised until the blitz faded into view with its new retractable lancer dart in hand. It pierced the fish like MS before boosting off it. Now it was 3 on two. Why had Noah not thought of bringing Nicol down here? Oh right…he kept forgetting it had the only weapon amongst the gat series that could truly work underwater.

The other two aquatic MS picked their targets and moved on. The ZnO rushed after Noah but he was ready. He wanted to show this pilot that his machine was entirely outclassed…again he just wished he had the silly arms to do it with.

He ejected his shield and GN sword three and held up both arms as the machine rushed him. The pilot seemed to think Noah was asking for his own death as it picked up its speed. Finally it his Noah…well sort of. Catching it with his hands Noah was pushed back slightly but as he pushed his GN drive he forced the aquatic MS to the side and boosted up before kicking it in the gut.

The machine transformed into its MS mode and took a swipe at him with its claws but Noah easily maneuvered out of the way, once again as the giant claws swung at him again. He boosted back as the machine seemed irritated that it couldn't catch him. He smirked as the MS fired torpedoes at him. He was quick to dodge them. At this point he was toying with the pilot. His gunpla was 10 times more agile, even in water then the "menacing" ZnO. It came with using a GN drive.

Finally the pilot transformed the machine back into its cruise mode and tried ramming him again. Once more Noah moved to catch him. This time though the ZnO transformed right in front of him though and immediately fired everything it had, all its remaining torpedoes and the two cannons in its hands. Noah was quick to dodge each one, the trails behind them making it easy for his gundam to give him a path to follow. Once all danger had passed Noah could see the pilot was ready to blow a gasket. It was time to end things. He boosted forward before his opponent could react and activated the beam saber portion of his wrist mounted beam emitters.

He brought his arms up in an X formation and swiftly brought them back down, cutting the ZnO into four pieces. He quickly boosted back and watched it explode with satisfaction. "Serves zaft right…Zeon came first bitches…"he said. He wasn't a hug ZEON fan but he had to admit until seed destiny when they blatantly copied the original gundam series designs, zafts attempts at making their own machines were a joking comparison to Zeon mobile suits. With the GINN and its line of follow up machines being their most original.

"Now then…that GooHn…"he said as he spun around to see that the strike and blitz were surfacing. He figured their fight wouldn't take too long. After all two on one…even underwater the GooHn didn't stand too much of a chance.

It was then the fateful call came out. "Noah we have a problem…"stated mu as he called Noah. "What's wrong? "Asked Noah. He knew the answer. Cagalli had been shot down/gone missing and Noah's machine was the only one capable of sustained flight aside from skygraspers one.

"That girl has gone missing. We took out the sub but not before it launched a DINN. I already handled it but it took out her navigation. I`ve tried radioing her but I can't get ahold of her. I`m sending you the location where I shot down the DINN. Might be a good starting point." Said MU and sure enough a moment later Noah got the coordinates. His big dilemma now was how important was athrun and the aegis to the story…or should he just rescue cagalli.

Either way he needed to decide, and fast. "I'll go look for them. But the closer it gets to night the bigger a beacon my GN particles will be even in the water. Also I can't submerge my drive like this for too long so I'll start by searching nearby islands while my GN drive dries out." he said as his machine landed where he left his shield and GN sword 3. He bent down on one knee and lifted his shield up, quickly securing it on his left arm before checking it was back in his arsenal. Oddly enough a few flexes of his gunplas hand and everything came back online.

He then scooped his right arm into the forearm grip and grabbed the pistol handle within. Again he moved the arm a bit and it seemed to reconnect. He stood EX-caliber up and again pondered how to go about this. With his knowledge of the show he'd find her easily and before zaft could find athrun and the aegis. But with just him how was he supposed to keep athrun from hopping into the aegis and attempting to fight him?

Could he kill athrun? He was pretty important to the show…but could they repair the aegis? If he dismembered it could they repair it? And what would come of their stop in orb? They were still a few days out and even then he still had to fight Kira so they could get the justice and freedom…which meant someone had to die to send athrun into a frenzy…then Tolle had to die to send Kira into a frenzy and convince Dearka to go after miriallia…

This rescue mission held a lot of the main plot of gundam seed in the balance…he would have to tread lightly here lest he break the show too much and certain events not occur.

Dive dive dive!

It had been a few hours since his can apparently this blonde natural's crash landing on the small island. After a rather adventurous first encounter he had to admit there was something about the girl that amused he...intrigued him even. And after discussing with her the events that really brought the war to a full boil he wanted nothing more than to get to know her. But when she had started talking about the fact she was untied and could go for his gun he felt guilty.

"Please don't go for my gun…if you do…I'll have to kill you." he stated as he looked down into his lap. The N-jammers were causing too much interference so neither of them could reach anyone on the radio.

Finally he stood back up, feeling himself start to get tired and doze off. Grabbing his mug of instant brew coffee he took a sip of it and stepped out to look up at the aegis. Ever since he had stolen it from Heliopolis he had had quite the ride in it. First he found Kira and was saddened to learn he was now the pilot of the last gat series machine they failed to steal. Then EX-calibers amazing entrance to the war…and its capture of Nicol and the blitz. And now he had two friends using gat series prototypes as enemies. Though any time he spoke with Nicol on the battlefield he kept trying to get them to join him…it made him wonder how he sounded to Kira. the green haired coordinator claimed he had joined celestial being, not the earth alliance, and he had done so because they saw both zaft and the earth alliance as their enemies and were trying to end this war and not only that but end war in general.

It was a noble ideal for sure but…

Right as he went to take another swig from his coffee he noticed a green glow in the distance and his eyes went wide. He had never thought that the girl's plane may have come from the archangel.

He dropped his mug and ran back into the cave. "Hey girl…you wouldn't happen to have launched from the legged ship would you? "He asked but then he realized she may not know zaft called it that. "The earth alliances new prototype battleship. "He clarified. He hoped to god she said no and he was just seeing things, missing the flashing of another fighter or something.

"Yeah…and what if I did?" she asked. She then saw the look on his face and shot to her feet. "No way…is Noah here?" she said with a smile.

Athrun groaned. "please, I don't want to have to take you hostage…if I move my machine before he can show up can you please not say anything about me being here?" he asked as he grabbed his emergency pack. The last thing he needed was for EX-caliber to show up with him here alone.

The girl raised her eyebrow and finally extended her hand. "Tell me your name first. "She said and athrun blinked. He was confused. Did she want a hand shake? "Um…fine…my names athrun. "He said, taking her hand in his and she slowly shook it.

"Cagalli…now go…it's the least I can do to repay you for your good treatment of Me." she stated as she walked out of the cave. The ground slowly shook though as it was too late. EX-caliber was standing not too far from them.

Athrun ran out and groaned. Take the girl hostage…or take his chances in the aegis? He couldn't perform sustained flight in it and he couldn't take on the gundam alone.

Surrender then? That was an option…maybe he could talk Nicol into coming back with him.

His choice was made for him when the gundam knelt down on one knee and set its hand on the ground. "Athrun zala!" called out Noah from within the cockpit.

The purple haired boy audibly gulped. The pilot knew his name…no doubt from Nicol. "are you going to offer terms of surrender or are you as blood thirsty as the rumor claim you`ve become?" called out athrun, putting his hands up as he had no chance to run at this point. It was plain and simple, either he surrender or he die. He wasn't ready to die just yet.

"Put your hands down moron!" yelled Noah as the cockpit opened and he stepped out onto the platform. "I'm only here for the girl. As much as Nicol wants me to authorize the capture of you and your teammates this is no way to do that. As far as I'm concerned…you were never here. But remember that! I spared your sorry ass understood!?" called out Noah as cagalli grabbed her clothing and ran towards the black and red machine.

Athrun slowly put his hands down. Was this pilot for real? He had a perfect chance to capture himself and the aegis…and he'd throw it away for the girl. Or…was it…it sounded like he was a man of honor and felt to capture him like this was…unsporting? Was that what this was? He sweat dropped. He was being given mercy on the grounds it was unsporting to capture him like this.

He watched as cagalli…that was her name…cagalli climbed onto the hand of EX-caliber and Noah get back into his cockpit. The hand bringing her up to the cockpit and letting her in. a moment later the gundam lifted off, athrun listening to the hum of the drive on its back as it spun up, providing more power to allow the machine to fly away.

He had to admit being in its presence…even as beaten as it was…it was like being in the presence of a god. To call their organization celestial being…it was very fitting. But now with no one else to worry about he headed back into the cave, deciding to extinguish his fire and pack up his things completely. Sleeping by the fireside was nice…but the aegis's cockpit was better than sleeping on the ground.

**Dive dive dive!**

**Ok so a shorter chapter but I hope you enjoyed it none the less. I realize I'm doing more and more scenes from Noah's point of view or if I do someone else I skip typing a lot of dialogue…i`ve found if I type all that dialogue I end up shot gunning that episode at you. I also realize I'm turning EX-caliber into a bit of a Mary-sue beats everyone even to the point of ditching his weapons for some-what of a challenge but you have to understand where we are…WE HAVE FINALLY REACHED ORB! Yes folks finally…3-4 chapters from now you will finally get to see…well read the beautiful battle I have planned that will end kira,noah,and athrun…well as far as the archangels crew knows it ends them….except Tolle…I'm gonna wrap all that up in one fight. **

**Also for those of you that don't know who shiho is look her up, she's often used as a love interest for yzak as she is proven to have feeling for him…though it is never shown if he feels the same way…yeah….imma spoil this now…Nicol isn't gonna die guys, the blitz will still be damaged but also athruns seed mode will be activated by a different persons death which triggers another-persons supposed demise. Anyways just trust me, you`ll all love it...or you won't…anyways I'm just happy. **

**The next 2-3 chapters will all be in orb and be closer to a romantic comedy then they will be gundam. But I will be devoting two chapters to romance purely between two different couples aboard the archangel. I will not be writing the fight that brings the archangel to orb, I will have them reflect on it though. **

**Therefore they will be shorter than normal but I also want to say this one more time, because I've had a couple people insist, INSIST that I'm shipping flay and Kira….or flay and Noah….**

**FUCK THAT SHIT! I hate flay, I hate how she toys with Kira then finally in the end she tries to redeem herself by helping natarle with azreal, which I also have a plan to rescue her you guys will love. But she will survive this fic. Sadly I'm taking a lot from operationmeteor's story "gundam wing: journey to a new battlefield" I have not asked their permission but I'm also not outright copying like I did chapter one from nemesis astrea.**

**Btw gundamexia247 if you are still reading this you just about hit the nail on the head. I`ll reveal more after I bring Noah back, but the zero system is evolving and Noah doesn't realize it but part of the reason the paladin gundam is the only custom suit to make its appearance is the zero system tapped into his GP-base and has made its own connections to the gunpla battle arena system, which in turn with EX-caliber finally taking damage, the model now does as well. **

**Anyways so with that being said you have won that little contest…feel free to message me if you are still reading the fic with your custom gunpla idea, otherwise a friend on Facebook actually made a cool tallgeese sinanju stein cross I intend to bring in. but I figure I'll give you a fair shot first.**

**Lol ok long enough authors note, read and review, please…review…seriously…I feel like this story is a ghost town.**


	12. paradise

**Warning…this chapter may be a bit confusing and contains no fighting or action whatsoever. Only teenage "I hate you daddy" drama and romantic shit. If that isn't your thing you get to wait. Also gonna put this here again, I don't own gundam seed or build fighters or any of the machines…also the paladin gundam is not based on my own design. EX-caliber is but I still don't actually own the model yet lol….still working on getting parts.**

**Romantic get away**

Noah stretched as he took in the sunlight. It was 4 in the afternoon but after everything that had happened so far…god was he happy to stretch his legs. He and Nicol were taking a stroll through orb's capital. Earlier in the day they had helped fulfill the archangels half of an agreement that would allow the tech students some time off the ship.

**Earlier…**

**Noah tapped his finger on the long meeting table as he listened to the same meeting as what happened in the anime. Literally, it was almost word for word except when the mobile suits were brought up. Noah finally stopped listening and started searching his GP-base for pictures of the celestial being uniform from season 2. He wanted to find a tailor and see how much it would cost to have a few of those uniforms made in various colors. He assumed Dearka was on the large side so he'd order his in extra-large just to be safe. Nicol and him could have their measurements taken…and maybe flay. He still was warty of having her join his crew but her father and sai were in orb and he figured they`d find out eventually and try to get her out of continuing onboard the archangel. The only way at that point for her to stay with them would be for her to join celestial being, which Noah would then be her father's contact in terms of relieving her from duty. **

**And he'd tell him straight up his personal policy for slacking off work or completely ditching it. You better be dying, or in a woman's case, pregnant, or betray him in a manner for which he could not forgive. And even then, if you're sick enough to be dying he'd leave you alone to pass on in peace, pregnancy Noah respected the ideal of bringing new life into the world and would never expect anyone to work during that so long as they could provide proof. And then betrayal…well if the sickness didn't make it obvious…once you were under Noah's command it was like working for a communist. You only left through death. Or old age, Noah would not deny someone retirement.**

**He was still working up rough drafts of all this and to Nicols despair occasionally had him sign new variation of the contract. But the green haired coordinator certainly seemed happy to be a part of celestial being. **

"**Noah…Noah…HEY EARTH TO NOAH!" shouted mu into Noah's ear as he hadn't realized he had completely forgotten where he was. To that point he jumped practically five feet out of his chair and threw his GP-base into the air. He caught it and looked around. "What? Are we done?" he asked, blinking and uzumi couldn't seem to help but laugh. **

"**no no…I do apologize for pulling you from your thoughts but captain Ramius has informed me the blitz as well as its pilot Nicol almalfi have been taken into your organizations custody. Therefore it is up to you to decide if you will comply with my request to borrow him along with Mr. Yamato for technical assistance with morgenroete. Also... I would need the combat data from the blitz." he said and while he waited for Noah's response he seemed to have something else on his mind. **

"**You also want your lead engineer to have a look at EX-caliber…"he said bluntly. The man simply nodded and Noah sighed. "I'll make you a deal. I will provide EX-caliber to Miss Simmons if she will repair it to the best of her ability through spot welding, filler, whatever. I will also offer EX-calibers OS…" that got a shocked gasp from the three archangel officers. "But in return I have a project I'd like her to work on that will sadly be a secret between me and her with certain conditions that may be met to allow her to discuss them with you." He said before looking down at his GP base. "One more thing…" said Noah with a smirk. **

*current time*

So with that meeting Noah and Nicol were heading to the best tailor in town and with a letter stating that the lion of orb himself authorized whatever request that Noah made and that the bill be sent to morgenroete.

"So what exactly are we going to a tailor for? I mean I'm fine in the earth alliance uniform. And it's not like I'm gonna need a new set of clothes when this will be the only shore leave we will get till Alaska." Stated Nicol as he looked around. He had to admit earth was beautiful, even more so then the pictures he had seen in his classes.

"My organization had their own uniforms planned. They were to be handed out upon completion of my unit and our carrier. Sadly…I never got mine…"he stated. In truth he just never found a good place online to buy a decent gundam 00 costume in his size and then have it dyed to match his personal colors.

"Plus these uniforms aren't just so that you won't have to wear the earth alliance uniform. It's so we have a symbol of our organization. Besides…I have a few more to order rather than just yours and mine. What size would you say Dearka is?" he asked as they turned the corner. As they did so Noah ran into someone as he was looking to Nicol when they did so.

The two of them went to the ground and Noah found his face between a pair of rather lovely sized breasts. He blinked for a second before he was soon standing as the girl seemed just as shocked. Finally she got up and stood close to who she had been walking with. This person Noah instantly recognized and refrained from glaring at him. Nicol however seemed to recognize him but didn't say anything.

"Watch where you are going next time!" shouted the woman. She was about Noah's age, fit but her clothes betrayed she enjoyed the occasional extra slice of cake or scoop of ice cream. Her hair was snow white, a sign she was a coordinator. The man next to her was none other than Heine westenfluss. He glared at Noah though likely because he ran into the girl. Was she a zaft pilot too? And why were they in orb?

"My apologies miss. I didn't mean to run into you. "Said Noah, nodding his head to which she huffed. "Fine…come on Heine…lets go." She said and they walked past Noah and Nicol, who turned to watch them.

"Heine westenfluss…guess we know who is piloting the guaiz…but that girl…could she be piloting that tallgeese?" said Noah out loud to which Nicols eyes went wide.

"Wait you know him? I`ve heard that name before but…you think he's piloting the prototype guaiz? What makes you think that? And tallgeese? I`m confused…"stated Nicol as he turned around with Noah and they continued on to the tailor. "I'll explain later. Suffice to say if they are here…it means the rest of your team is trying to locate the archangel…"he said as they finally found the tailor shop and went inside.

_Romantic get away_

Murrue couldn't help but sigh as she sat on the bridge. Most of the crew had left to go see orb or visit family in the case of the tech students. Meanwhile the bridge staff was still forced to stay onboard and oversee repairs that included herself and natarle. She had to admit it would have been nice to get some shore leave of her own but it would have to wait. Meanwhile mu had decided to cross the borderline of harassment after she reminded him of it when he patted her on the back and rubbed it even for a moment when natarle stormed out of her office. She didn't want to admit it then but it felt more assuring to have his hand on her back then it did knowing they not only had the strike and blitz onboard, but supposedly the "angel of death" the most powerful mobile suit in the cosmic era to protect them.

Now he had left to supposedly seek out orbs best burger joint. For what purpose she had no idea aside from just getting some nonmilitary rations.

Her mind wandered to Noah and Nicol. She had once again given them what two of the G unit pilots would have accrued by now in terms of pay and sent them off to meet with Erica, orbs top engineer and the lead engineer of morgenroete. She was curious what they would buy while they were out. Noah no doubt would buy a few nonmilitary rations, having protested her denied request for a food budget so he could load up their mess with food that would just go to waste on a military vessel.

She sighed once more and closed her eyes, deciding perhaps a few minutes of rest would ease her mind.

_Romantic get away_

Erica had just gotten off her phone call with her son and restarted recording her verbal report on all the data she had gathered so far on the three mobile suits now in her care. EX-caliber was her first and current report.

"According to the report submitted by Colonel Leonard kisaka, the power of EX-calibers armor is not much different from the GAT series phase shift armor. After observing it in combat he reported noticing a sign of it powering down in a way when it would, for lack of better words, take a beating. The eyes would begin to fade in brightness while the moment the assault finished the eyes flashed back to their full color and the machine would resume its original capabilities." She stated before taking a sip of her coffee.

"It would then come to reason that the particles that the cone on its back produces are not only how it propels itself but are the power source itself. In relative comparison I would estimate the clear panel on its chest hides behind it a tank of sorts that these particles are stored in, similar to a self-recharging battery that then funnels them throughout the body somehow and strengthens the armor. "She said and set down her coffee before picking up the GP-base that Noah left with her as well as a death threat of leaking the password to it.

To hold the item that would not only start the dangerous machine, but apparently held all the knowledge of its operating system and construction…. She had to take a moment to pick her words carefully.

"The unit's pilot, Noah Carson, has given me sole authorization to view confidential knowledge of the machine. While I am unable to divulge the information within, after taking a glance at some of it…well I think this would be a good place to end my report. My last comment on EX-caliber is that it hold more secrets then I think even Noah Carson knows of, the GN drive as it is called in its back does far more then power the machine or propel it, to clarify I'm not even sure it propels it…but as stated previously I cannot make any further comment without potentially crossing a line I have sworn to Noah I would not cross in terms of making any records of this information." She said before setting the device back down.

"Command: end recoding, label report as "EX-caliber" and send a copy to lord uzumi." She told her computer before picking up the control device once more and talking to her office window which overlooked the hanger containing the three machines. Specifically she looked to EX-caliber. Just as murrue had felt she saw it, battered and beaten even as her technician's welded cracks, applied phase shift armor where Noah had not realize entire panels had fallen into disrepair….but still…

Seeing it standing between the X-105 strike and X-207…it still looked ready to shove them both aside and put itself in harm's way and before even any smoke clouds dissipated to tear through them and trash anyone who stood in its way. And when she heard there had been 3 more intended to fight alongside it, each just as specialized, each commanding just as much respect…

The earth would have shaken at their presence and both zaft and the earth alliance would have wept as they showed the cosmic era the problem with war. There will always be someone better…someone stronger…and maybe do as Noah stated and rid them of the desire for war.

Taking a breath Erica walked back to her desk and got ready to give her report of the X-105 strike.

_Romantic get away_

Kira was currently continuing his work on the OS for the M1-astray. He had to admit it felt like a sting of betrayal when he saw his home nation was building mobile suits. But when Erica explained it he had to admit it made sense. Even more so when Noah and Nicol had chimed in.

"The war is slowly coming to a close. With the revelation of the gat series construction, and the fact orb technically helped build them, once either zaft has removed the earth alliance from the play field or made them a minor threat they would eventually turn their eyes to orb. And in the same manner if the earth alliance is backed into a corner such as if they ran out of mass drivers they would turn to orb with the intent to essentially blackmail them into joining them, with the strike and the gat series as the blackmail." Noah had stated to which Nicol had nodded.

"Noah is right and how else was orb going to fight back and defend themselves? Once we get the archangel, blitz and strike to Alaska the earth alliance…or worse blue cosmos will likely find a way to mass produce them and then both sides will has MS. If orb didn't build these they wouldn't stand a chance." Nicol continued for Noah.

Still though…it also felt odd making this OS for naturals to use. While it merely meant lowering certain parameters and making the mobile suit require less effort to pilot, it would take likely their entire stay in orb to finish this.

It didn't help that after only a few hours of work Noah had used his position as Nicols direct commander as a reason to pull him away from helping him. Still the progress Nicol and him had made at least had set a good base for the OS. Still…he had delete each line of code and rewrite it and sometimes even had to go back and alter other portions to account for other factors.

He took a glance to Erica as she sat at her desk, seeming to work just as hard. On what he didn't know and likely it was the one thing Noah had requested from her aside from repairs to EX-caliber.

He had to wonder what the gundam would look like with its repairs…or if maybe she was working on making new weapons for the machine…or she was trying to find out how to recreate its GN drive. Whatever the case he was glad the machine would likely be brought to full strength again finally.

Then he recalled the demonstration as to why they needed help remaking this OS so badly.

***earlier…sorry for all the flashbacks, really didn't intend to include this stuff…just finding it fun to add my/Noah's 2 cents into everything***

**Kira, Nicol, Noah and cagalli were all lead into an observation room. Outside the large window was a large testing grounds, obviously used for MS. Inside that arena like area stood three of the astrays.**

**As they all stood in front of the window cagalli and Erica both put on head-sets to speak with the pilots.**

"**: asagi, juri, mayura…start your drills." stated Erica and a moment later the mobile suits began to move. Originally they walked in a straight line though they veered off into their own spots and began to go through almost a martial arts like movement series, clearly a series of moves to test the mobile suits movement. **

**Kira winced as he watched the astrays move as if they were in thick goo, he noticed Nicol crack a smile as he tried not to laugh and Noah was the same. **

**Cagalli put her hand to her forehead as finally Noah began laughing and the three astrays stopped moving, likely hearing him laugh and wondering if it was at them. "Those three are the same as before I left."**

**Erica couldn't help but crack a slight smile, proud to say, "yes but they are twice as fast." **

**That statement had Nicol laughing along with Noah. The engineer, brunette coordinator and blonde princess all turned to glare at the two pilots. **

"**What are they laughing at?" finally asagi asked. **

"**You three. Your machines are so slow. Knowing Noah he's already watched EX-caliber chop each of you up a hundred different ways in his twisted imagination and Nicol is probably laughing just because he's a former zaft pilot and knows just as well as I do you`d all get killed in an instant at this pace!" shouted, cagalli, seemingly annoyed at the girls ignorance.**

"**Well at least we can get them to move." Said mayura**

"**The enemy won't care about that, you're still their enemy and an easy target." Exclaimed cagalli.**

***back to Kira's current moment***

The coordinator shook his head and sighed. They were right in all aspects. Orb would need mobile suits of its own to defend itself and if it meant helping defend his homeland then it wasn't such a bad thing to develop this OS.

_Romantic get away_

"What do you mean you have to go back!? Your finally home and yet you still insist on being a soldier!?" exclaimed George allster. Flay had been home for only a couple hours before her father had started in on her leaving the archangel and returning to her engagement with sai…who was also there as they had been enjoying a lunch in their manors backyard.

Flay could only look at her plate and grip her form hard enough to start to bend the handle. "Yes father. I officially enlisted in the earth alliance and I have my duties to perform on the archangel. "She said. she was trying to find some way to get out of staying here…but her father was the vice foreign minister…and apparently a member of blue cosmos as the way he spoke of Kira and being glad she was long longer around him indicated a hatred for Kira purely for him being a coordinator.

"I shall not hear any more of this. I`ll see to it that the earth alliance is informed orb IS harboring the archangel and that they and that ship are refusing to release you from your commitment to the armed forces so you can return to your life here." He said as he finally calmed down, not expecting to continue the conversation.

She had to do it…as much as she liked sai…well as a friend really, but as much as didn't wanna break his heart or her fathers….she had to try this before resorting once more to joining celestial being.

"I'm pregnant with Kira's child!" she practically shouted as it caused sai to do a spit take with the orange juice he was sipping on and her father to nearly choke on his bite of his sandwich.

"WHAT!? YOU…YOU SLEPT…MY DAUGHTER SHALL NOT BE CARRYING SUCH AN ABOMINATION ANY LONGER!" he declared before standing up and reaching to grab flays hand but she pulled it away.

"I've also joined celestial being. Touch me or your unborn grandchild and you`ll have Noah and EX-caliber to contend with…"she said, her voice taking a menacing tone as she stood up. Now she was in deep. She either had to actually conceive with Kira…or join celestial being. She just hoped Noah would take her.

But her father was still even further enraged. "So…that young man has gotten into your head with all this anti-war, coordinators and naturals co-existing bull? And even more so your womb is tainted with the spawn of that…that THING!? I think I need to have a word with him…but first we need to get you to the hospital. Sai is to be your husband and you`ll bear his children…NOT a filthy coordinators." Stated George but now said had to put his foot down.

"Sir that's enough!" he shouted. The elder allster seemed perplexed by the outburst. "I apologize sir but as much as I am surprised at these turn events and even more so that flay turned to Kira rather than coming with us…I can't let you continue to talk about my friend like that. Kira and I may not have been close but he was a good person…and he deserves some respect." Stated sai before he looked between flay and George. "I'm not going to tell you how to parent your daughter but if you're going to talk like that about our friend and…"it left a bad taste in sais mouth to say this, "and potential father of your grandchild any further then I'm going to have to call off the engagement myself. I don't wish to be married to someone whose family so blatantly hates coordinators when one of my friends is one."

George seemed surprised by such words. Realizing his plans for his daughter could be ruined if he continued to speak him once again grabbed at flays wrist, this time catching it and beginning to drag her away. "If this Noah Carson boy believes he can keep you away from me and allow you to make such a threat he is forgetting who I am. An attack on me is an attack on the earth alliance and tan amount to a declaration of war…and a true one…not just some speech in space." He stated as his grip held firm on flays hand even as she struggled to get away.

No daughter of his was going to be the mother to a Halfling or even worse a full coordinator….

_Romantic get away_

Finally Noah and Nicol stepped out of the tailor shop. The tailor had taken their measurements and was preparing a black version of the celestial being uniform from season 2 for Nicol, and a red one for Noah. She also had a general idea of the measurements for Dearka and flay and was making a desert brown and a pink uniform for them respectively.

Of course Noah left detailed pictures of the uniforms for her to work from.

"So what now?" asked Nicol as they just stood in front of the door to the shop.

Noah shrugged. " I'm gonna explore the town, maybe hit up a bar or two…your free to do whatever, maybe even go back to the ship or go help Kira some more." said Noah as he looked around then pulled out the small envelope holding his money. He had plenty of money…

"If the captain asks why I don't return tonight if I don't…I rented a hotel and am enjoying a night of leisure. Take that as you wish." he stated before walking away to the right, clearly intent on enjoying all orb had to offer.

That left Nicol with...well really with nothing better to do then see what orbs legal drinking age was and maybe grab a light drink and relax. So…he walked the opposite direction of his commanding officer and went to find himself a nice cocktail…maybe near the beach. He had never been to the beach…

_Romantic get away_

A few hours after splitting up from Nicol Noah found himself in a small club, loud music playing, and a dark room aside from all the colorful lights. He sat at the bar with a new sketch pad and a set of art pencils along with a glass of whiskey in front of him.

He had already re-created the sketches of EX-caliber as best he could from memory, now he was working on a new machine. Something about his time here had him feeling like his time in the cosmic era was almost up and he wanted to build a new suit. Screw upgrading EX-caliber. It was obvious that it had its flaws.

So currently he had a rough sketch of the 00 gundam. He had the back and the front drawn on one page and was currently making lines connecting to notes. So far he planned to reinforce the joints, the base model would be a master grade this time, a 00 seven sword/g to be exact. That way he had two GN condensers to work with and he planned to modify them to be what he would call "deep well" GN drives. Essentially the condensers would be containers for spare particles…like they were meant to but rather than just be tipped with a GN drive cone and only have whatever was in the condenser, they would be capped with a true GN drive, allowing him to store more particles then just in the condenser in his torso while still having the unlimited power of twin GN drives.

Just as he took a sip of his whiskey a somewhat familiar face took the stool next to him.

He glanced to look who it was as the…woman…the woman ordered a simple martini…he couldn't help but chuckle as she almost quoted James bond likely without meaning too, telling the barkeep that she wanted it shaken, not stirred.

But the reason she was familiar was it was the woman from earlier. Her snow white hair was unmistakable.

She must have heard him chuckle cause she turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Something funny?" she asked. She didn't seem to recognize him.

He shook his head. "No…well kinda. You ever watch James bond flicks?" he asked before sitting up straight. "Martini please. Shaken…not stirred." Said Noah in his best attempt to honor the accent of Sean Connery.

That got her to laugh. "No I haven't. But if they have that bad a Scottish accent I kind of want to now. "She stated as she was served her drink and paid for it.

Noah laughed. "No no trust I, the actor portraying that version of James bond is much better with the accent. "He said as he held out his hand. "Noah Carson." He said. That got her attention as her eyes went wide. She didn't say anything but her gaze suddenly became more of a studying look rather than just the kind expression she had a moment ago.

She took his hand and shook it. "Nina…Nina yong…"she stated before their hands released. It was then she noticed his sketches. "What are you drawing there?" she asked. As she looked over at the drawings. She was surprised to see a sketch of a mobile suit similar to EX-caliber.

Noah shrugged though. "I don't know just yet. It's a rough design of my next gunpla…err a plastic model of a mobile suit. I don't have a name for it yet…but I know my current one can't stand up to the pressure it's under." He said as he seemed to get serious when he looked down at the drawing. Taking a sip of his whiskey he kept an eye on her out of the corner of his eye.

"I see…so...this plastic model….are you an engineer or something? Do you run tests on the model to see if it can handle certain situations? "she asked.

She caught on fast…and Noah planned to just roll with it. "Sort of. I use 3d rendering of the model and test certain intended technologies. But it's just a hobby. I could never actually pilot a mobile suit. "He said as he chuckled and reached up to rub the back of his head nervously, trying to come off as a simple engineer.

Nina nodded. "I see…so you don't turn these models into anyone, you don't give advice to like zaft or any actual mobile suit developers? "She asked. She was probing, maybe it wasn't THE Noah Carson…maybe it was someone posing as him but really he helped develop EX-caliber.

Noah shook his head. "Nope…oh…hey I love this song. "He stated as the DJ came on stating the next song would be for couples. Not exactly odd but this early…still Noah wanted her to get away from seeing his new work…after all he may need to fight her in it one day.

Nina blinked as she started to listen to the music. It was an ultra-classic but a classic none the less. She gave a small yelp when Noah pulled her onto the floor. It was a slower song, but not too slow. Still it did have a nice tune to it. Blue moon by frank Sinatra.

Nina blushed as soon she found herself pulled onto the dance floor and was now slow dancing with Noah, one arm around her waist, the other holding her hands. She cleared her throat, "um…isn't…didn't the DJ say this was for…"she couldn't finish her sentence. Mostly because this felt…right. It kind of scared her. Even more so when Noah shrugged and gave a smile.

"I know he said it was for couples. But I can't exactly slow dance…or dance to a "couples" song by myself now can I?" he said. That made her blush more.

This felt too right…too perfect….she wanted to just lean against him and never let go. It was like being in the paladin's cockpit. His touch…his smell. She finally had to push away from him and ran back to the bar, ordering a glass of his strongest whiskey. Her money was on the counter before he handed her the drink, which she downed immediately.

Noah walked over and stood beside her. "Did I say something wrong? "He asked. He was confused as she gave the bartender a tip and headed for the door. Noah quickly finished his own drink and packed his things in his new backpack and followed her out.

"Hey wait…what did I do wrong?" he asked as he followed the zaft pilot. She turned around though and pulled a gun on him. It was late in the evening…sort of. Almost 8 and it was dark so most people were already gone to their homes for the day.

"Stay away from me Noah Carson. You…you had to have spiked my drink or something. I don't know…just…stay away from me." She stated as she backed away from the gunpla battler. Finally after a good distance was between them she turned around and just ran, leaving Noah confused. Didn't she want more information on him? On his thought process? His new machine?

Looking to his watch Noah decided it was time to head to the archangel. So with that he turned around and began to make his way back to the ship…or hoped to. He had to admit to being slightly buzzed and not sure if he'd make it back.

That was when the phone murrue gave him rang. He pulled it from his pocket and looked to see who was calling. It was flay….oh this ought to be good. "What is it flay?" he asked as he stopped where he was. His eyes closed and he sighed. His worst fears were realized…he was being forced to bring flay into his crew. "Fine...fine calm down. Which clinic are you at? Ok…I'll be there in a moment. "He stated as he flagged down a taxi. He then hung up and got in, telling the driver the address he wished to go to. This was going to be a long night…

_Romantic get away_

Flay stood in the waiting room of the emergency clinic. Not wanting this on public record her father had taken her to a simple planned parenthood like clinic where he had already paid off the doctors and staff to keep their mouths shut. Sadly once flay brought up the fact she was military they agreed to stay silent…but had to follow protocol. Not wanting to bring Kira into this and get his hopes up with her she had called Noah, claiming Kira was in fact the father but out of the country and unable to sign his consent….not that she was signing either.

Her father was getting impatient. Every moment they spent there was another that someone could spot them and turn this into some scandal. No matter how much money he offered the doctor refused to break protocol…especially when he almost had him then flay went and mentioned who her CO was. It seemed Noah's reputation on the battlefield had earned him fear even in the public sector.

Finally the blonde natural walked through the doors and he shot up on his feet. "Tell these people to perform to operation on her NOW! OR HAVE YOU NOT BEEN INFORMED OF THIS SITUATION." Shouted George as he had had enough with this fares. He was beginning to doubt flay was even pregnant…or part of celestial being.

Noah turned to flay then back to the vice foreign minister. "Have you confirmed it with a pregnancy test? Or did she just mention Kira as the father and the fact he's a coordinator made you blind to the obvious?" asked Noah as Georges eyes went wide. God damn it…the boy was right. He had blindly followed his hatred for coordinators and likely fallen right into his daughters plans.

Noah smirked and turned to flay who seemed relieved by his presence. "Flay…are you really pregnant? And if so is Kira honestly the father?" he asked. To which flay shook her head. "No…I'm sorry for wasting your time sir but my father was trying to pull me away from my duties on the ship. I had to do something." stated flay. She made her intentions clear as she stuck her tongue out at her father.

"WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT!" he yelled and nearly launched himself at his own daughter when he heard the click of a safety being turned off.

"Mister vice foreign minister. I advise you not to harm my subordinate. If you harm one hair on her head I'm afraid I'll be forced to kill you." He stated, trying his best to impersonate heero.

That had sweat on the large man's brow. He visibly ground his teeth together. "You will pay for this mister Carson…I swear it. You shall be the archangels undoing for this." he stated before leaving, not bothering to make sure flay was coming with him.

Once he was gone the brunette walked up to Noah and frowned. "I really am sorry for wasting your time. When we get back to the ship I'll sign whatever I have to to actually join celestial being." She stated as she waited for Noah's reaction.

Once again showing his disregard for the full gentlemen's code flay was quickly feeling the sting of a backhanded slap on her face. With a seriousness to his entire body language he looked her dead in the eyes as she brought her hand up to cover where she had been slapped. "Use me as a scapegoat again and I'll make you regret it. You`ll sign all the necessary contracts when we get back to the ship. But for now…"he said as he looked at his watch. It was almost nine already.

"Right now I'm buzzed from drinking and really don't feel like going back to the ship in this state. Come on…you can point me to the best hotel in the area." He said as he lead flay out of the clinic…no one mentioning they were all quite a bit richer for this near catastrophe.

Flay blushed and nodded. While she felt the…well the "bitch slap" was a bit over the top she understood Noah was making it clear she had overstepped her bounds with him. Never the less she followed him out and started to think what hotels they could afford for the night…and preferably 2 rooms…

_Romantic get away_

Nina sighed as she got back to her hotel. While athrun and his team were searching for the archangel her and Heine had decided to actually vacation in orb, relax after the tense battles they had had with EX-caliber. Heine was studying the alien machine, working on a plan of attack for the next time they fought the machine.

Butte couldn't stop thinking of Noah…of how having his arm wrapped around her waist…his other hand holding hers…his scent…it made her…well she blushed more thinking EXACTLY what it made her feel but more than that it made her feel more at home then her apartment, even more so then the paladins cockpit and that felt as close to her home as she had thought.

As she walked inside the lobby she saw Noah again, and this time with a girl. She was confused when she felt a pang of jealousy. Rather than wanting to end the pilot while he was without his suit she more wanted to throw that brunette, young…wait…she blinked. Young?

It was then she noticed the desk clerk handing them two separate keys, her enhanced coordinator eyes catching the distinct shape of two different numbers but still they each had 2 key cards as any hotel gave, one being a back-up in case they left theirs in their room.

So she was a young ward of his perhaps? A natural pilot in training? Or did she work for his celestial being? But to recruit so young. She blinked. Wait…the zala team was made up of teenagers…what was she saying?

In her wandering thoughts she hadn't noticed Noah see her, leave the girl to go to her room and walk over. "Nina? Hey Nina you ok?"He asked, not bothering with the "oh is that you?" routine of meeting someone for only the…well she guessed 3rd time now.

Shaken from her thoughts she looked to Noah. "What oh um…what is it? I thought I told you to stay away from me."She stated with a hostile tone.

Noah quickly threw his hands up. "Hey hey…I was just wanting to apologize for whatever I did before. That's all…but listen…if you're staying here too…I don't know…call it an odd hunch or…love at first sight whatever but…I kinda felt a connection between us at the club. This is gonna seem crazy given we just met but…" Noah extended a hand with his spare key card. "I know it's late and all but…feel free to stop by my room. I`d love to chat, maybe pick back up that conversation about my modeling. "He said

Without thinking Nina took the key card and thanked him. What was she doing? He was the enemy…wait…no this was perfect…she could go to his room, lull him into a false sense of security…then capture him! Force him to give zaft his advanced technology, the location of the archangel…everything. But…that left a bad taste in her mouth and made her stomach do flips, even more so when she thought of sneaking into his room late at night and slitting his throat in his sleep.

Deciding to think on it for a bit she headed for the elevator and looked at the key card. How ironic…his room was between hers and Heine's. They had gotten separate rooms due to Nina wanting some space to herself.

She bit her lip. As the elevator rose it seemed more and more tempting to do exactly as he mentioned. Just go talk. According to him he felt that connection too. Or maybe he was lying? Maybe he knew who she really was…that they were mortal enemies…

Before she knew it as she pondered what to do she found herself in front of his door, the keycard already inserted….

She took an audible gulp and finally made her choice. Fuck zaft…fuck logic…fuck fate or whatever it was that drove the world. She opened the door…and let her heart make her choices for her as the door closed and she alerted Noah to her presence.

**Romantic get away**

**So…not super long but not short. Some of you may have mixed feelings of how I had flay act but I wanted some drama in this chapter. After all if we can't have action why not have some teenage "I hate you daddy" drama?**

**Also no…unless I have like…20 reviews pop up demanding an M rated lemon scene the next chapter will be starting the morning after this. And yes…Noah and Nina roll around in the sheets in the end of that night. **

**Also I know the story may be confusing as to when certain things happen. And that's mainly because I wrote the story as I watched like…3 episodes to try and determine how long they are really there. So I skipped parts that I wanted to put Noah's two cents in on as I mentioned earlier.**

**Anyways there you go…Nina and Noah have met, bonded…and yeah if you don't like the love at first sight screw off. The zero system made Nina to be Noah's rival. She literally was spawned by it, with her own background and whatnot that I have not actually written up. But she was spawned for Noah so why can't she also have an instant attraction to him when she already was meant to be his rival in battle? They were meant for each other in one way, why not in another…well…she was made for him…anyways you get the idea.**

**Also I know back in like chapter 3 I mentioned I have a thing for making main characters get pregnant for some reason. NO! Flay will not be getting pregnant. Same with Nina. That was just a plot device to create drama.**

**Anyways thanks for reading, hope you like it. If you're wanting more action then this romantic comedy bit wait 2 more chapters…well a chapter and a half. The next chapter will be short and focus on building the relationship between mu and murrue as well as a bit more on Nicol and flays time in orb and what Noah asked Erica to do.**


	13. the day the world burned

**Forewarning…I halfassed my wrap up of orb…I'm sorry…I have just been ITCHING to write this chapter for so long now…please…enjoy EX-calibers final fight…**

**The day the world burned**

Nina had to stop herself from gasping as her eyes shot open. She immediately had to close them and groaned quietly. She had a raging headache. A hangover….that's what this was. But…she had what? a glass of whiskey…and a few sips of a martini…that…

She internally sweat dropped. Was she that much of a lightweight?

No…that was hours before she ended up here...

Wait…where was here? Last she remembered was…

She gasped and in an instant was on her feet and had her side arm from her bedside table in her hand, safety off and aimed at her bedmate….who was sound asleep. Snoring slightly…sprawled out...while a moment ago she had been cuddled up as close to him as possible.

Noah Carson. Pilot of EX-caliber, and technically her rival….

She had slept with him. Wait…really? But…she had only come in to talk…

It was then she noticed the empty bottle of wine on the table.

That was right…they had ordered wine and stayed up late talking. Talking about life, about his models, and after the wine she had found out…well first off he was definitely a light weight. 2 glasses had him buzzed and he began to talk about EX-caliber. She had of course been tipsy and stopped committing it all to memory but once the hang over was gone she knew she'd recall it all. Something about alternate universes, his mobile suit was actually a plastic model…she would remember it later.

Finally after debating putting two in his chest she flicked her safety back on and moved over to the counter where the hotel room's coffee maker was. It was then she realized she was naked. She blushed and glanced to Noah. He was still out cold. She couldn't help but smile and blush more. He had a gun on him, hell the safety click would wake most soldier up…but he was still passed out in bed.

She began making a cup of coffee, not for her. No with her coordinator body her hangover was already fading to where she was at least able to think about what to do now.

They had slept together…she wasn't too worried about pregnancy, it was hard enough for two coordinators these days to naturally conceive though that was for third generation coordinators mostly. But still that was hard enough let alone her and a natural.

Still when she saw the open rubber wrapper on Noah's table it helped ease her.

While the coffee was brewing she went into the bathroom and showered and when she came out Noah was still out cold so she poured herself a cup and sat at the table, looking at him, watching him sleep.

It still disturbed her, that feeling of comfort, of peace his presence gave her. It was then remembered the one serious thing he said before finally it went black even without her hangover.

"The next time we meet Nina…it has to be the last. One of us has to be destroyed" he had said, looking so sad as he continued. "After meeting like this…I can't see myself fighting you again and again and again…one of us has to be ended the next time we meet."

That was when Nina had let herself go, dragged him into bed…and then woke up with all this.

Finally she sighed and decided she had waited long enough for him to wake up. She got up, got dressed, and quickly wrote down a note for him. She then left, leaving the blonde passed out in bed, also deciding not to mention this to Heine when she found him.

_The day the world burned_

Noah sighed as he tugged on his celestial being jacket. The mobile suits were being taken back to the archangel and he was in charge of moving EX-caliber. When he saw the gunpla he had frowned. It had so many spot repairs and panels replaced…god he was gonna have a lot of repair work to do. Still it was all phase shift armor and he already had re-written his OS to accommodate for it to run power aka GN particles to the panels to power the armor.

As they were leaving he left Erica a gift, something he hoped she could work on while they made their way to josh-a. In his GP-base he already had their originally agreed upon project. While not a physicist or rocket scientist the talented engineer had helped him isolate the zero systems code breaks that may have caused this. She was the first person aside from flay to hear the whole story. And his reaction had made it sound like she believed him…but wanted to see this for herself.

So as he rode in the truck that had EX-caliber on it, it's active camouflage active and disguising it as crates that were under it, he could only try to remember the night before.

48 hours…maybe it was after josh-a that they spent a month here? Still with the impending battle coming he was bracing himself. It was him or Nina…no other options were presenting themselves thus far.

With that he rode back in silence.

_The day the world burned_

Dearka sat in the cockpit of the buster and was making sure everything was in order. They had just gotten word from their scouts that the legged ship was being moved out of orb. So…their fearless leader had been right. The question was…was his plan correct as well…

Athrun had handed them each a task in order to make this ambush go smoothly. It would be his job to try and disable to ships weapons and make it easier for them to sink it. Yzak and shiho would be tasked with taking on Nicol and the blitz and keeping it busy. And as usual their leader would be tasked with taking down the strike.

Of course Nina and Heine had finally joined them. They were going after EX-caliber. The EFT guaiz that Heine piloted had received an upgraded backpack with an enhanced battery to help it last longer, while Nina's paladin had a new version of her prototype equipment installed to help stabilize whatever her power source was.

Today was the day. They all could feel it. It was their last chance to sink the ship. So…either both the ship and its MS compliment went down…including Nicol…or they all did. That was what they were laying on the line…and they all planned to come back.

_The day the world burned_

Nicol sat in the blitz's cockpit. As soon as they were free of orbs territory he had orders from Noah with captain Ramius' permission to launch and land atop one of the archangels legs. He would leave his phase shift armor deactivated but otherwise he would be prepared to help fend off the opening volley from his former team.

"If Noah is right and they show up…" he muttered as he went over his final launch preparations. His commander was in his mobile suit as well though he knew he had his arms over his chest, eyes closed, almost meditating. They all knew what this fight would be like. Zafts last attempt to sink the archangel.

His former teammates would be out for blood, willing to do whatever it took to bring down the ship. Today would be the day…both sides would see loss.

Finally a moment later he received the signal to launch. Closing the blitz's cockpit he opened a communication with Noah.

"As soon as they attack focus on the duel, the buster will likely be mainly intent on taking out our engines or weapons with its superior firepower so I wanna single it out. Athrun will go after Kira, I'll handle the prototypes. Leave Dearka to mu and Tolle." commanded Noah before he nodded and closed the channel. As the blitz reached the catapult he took a deep breath. He felt the ship rise from the water, watched the catapult doors open…and soon he was forced from the ship, quickly using his thrusts to maneuver onto one of the legs.

If yzak was his target then he already knew how to keep him busy. A pot shot here and there, firing his glepnir rocket anchor, the easiest way to get him to back off or even better, ground him, would be to take out his flight platform.

Noah would be next to launch followed by Kira when they showed up. The green haired coordinator was worried about Tolle. He had gotten to know the tech students a bit and hoped the boy understood the risks of flying around mobile suits, especially when three of them would be at Noah's skill level, one of those three being Noah. The slightest wrong move and he could get caught in the cross fire.

Nicol closed his eyes and prayed that the boy made it out alive…though he had a sinking feeling he wouldn't.

_The day the world burned_

The battle that followed quickly turned into a dog fight.

The moment the 6 mobile suits were on radar everyone went to high alert and Noah rocketed out of the hangar. Not wasting a moment of time he had hit trans-am and completely bypassed the three gat series machines, even tearing off the remains of his cloak before bashing the white prototype with his shield and then kicking it down. It was like he had some sort of vendetta against it.

Originally everyone had been confused by the 6th machine due to Nicol being on the archangel but before they deployed the smoke screen, which Nicol took to his advantage to continue waiting for them to close in, he had spotted a new machine. A prototype CGUE. Which was just what they needed…another prototype…

But this one stuck close to yzak as the skygraspers launched, mu taking the aile striker pack for more speed while Tolle had been equipped with the sword pack.

Kira was hooked up to auxiliary power with the launcher pack and stood by in the launch tube while awaiting firing coordinates.

While the gat series got into a dog fight, Kira even launching and using the strikes basic thrusters to combat the four mobile suits, Noah dragged the two prototypes onto a nearby island where they began fighting.

While normally Nicol would be worried about the fact it was a two on one fight, Noah's head seemed to be more in the here and now than ever. While still in trans-am he had quickly forced the two prototypes to revert to sword and shield fighting, keeping them grounded and to close to use their guns.

Though in his time noticing his commanders fight he had missed Kira change packs…and yzak and the new machine close in. "shit…gotta activate my phase shift armor…" he stated and did so just in time to raised his trikeros shield and block two beams from the new machines cannons.

"So that's what it is…wait what…"he was surprised when he was forced back, activating the beam saber on his shield to block the beam claws of the new machine. "Shit…it's strong." He said as he had to boost back onto the middle portion of the archangels hull.

He then had to block a shot from yzak before again blocking those claws. No one had ever thought to land on the archangel since he did back before Noah captured him. This pilot was smart. Tag team him and get rid of one of the archangel's primary defenses.

The machine jumped back up onto the top of one of the legs and raised its cannons. "No you don't!" yelled Nicol and he fired his retractable lancer dart. The kinetic weapon struck the left shoulder and pierced the armor, tearing the limb off and throwing off the shots so that the beam that was able to fire was forced to be aimed into the water.

"So it doesn't have phase shift armor…that's good to know." Stated Nicol as he pulled the weapon back, the arm his lancer dart had hit tearing off and hitting the deck of the ship.

The young pilot had to raise his shield once again as yzak fired and as soon as he brought it down cried out in pain as the beam claws raked the torso of the blitz and he had to shield himself from the broken bits of metal and glass. Thankfully he was able to react just soon enough to step back slightly, but still the claws left three big gashes which began sparking within the torso and left Nicol visible as the door to his cockpit was sliced open.

"The one downside to phase shift armor…"he grumbled as the new machine raised its beam rifle. He tried to raise his right arm but it wouldn't budge. He looked to his right and found that the gash not only left his cockpit open but also had caught his shoulder and the limb was just barely hanging on.

"Damn it…I can't die here…not after everything I've gone through, everything I've sacrificed…" he stated and grit his teeth.

It was then that it happened, right as he could see the green beam begin to form in the barrel of his opponent's rifle. In his mind he could see a seed burst and he felt completely in control.

He quickly boost to the left, off the archangel but fired his glepnir at the new machine just as its rifle went off. Caught by surprise by the move the pilot couldn't react fast enough and the anchor opened and grabbed their leg.

Nicols plan was risky, and relied on the fact his pilots suit was sealed. As he fell off the archangel he used his momentum and boosters to climb above the falling suit. Quickly he spun around and as the suit tried to fight gravity Nicol used the rockets on his anchor to force the machine down into the water…which he followed. Too deep and his suit would crush itself, even less deep and he'd be crushed before he could run out of air.

His plan was simple but double edged if it failed.

As he fell into the water it quickly filled his cockpit. Retracting the rocket anchor he had to move quickly. He boosted towards the sinking machine as the impact with the water knocked out its thrusters. Quickly he batted the pilots remaining arm away and grabbed the sword he saw at its waist from the sheath. Not noticing the beam capabilities it had he quickly plunged it into the torso of his opponent and boosted away, the force and speed of his own thrusters tearing off what remained of his arm.

With little time left as he could hear his helmet creaking and ready to break he boosted up and out of the water, quickly followed by the explosion of the enemy mobile suit. The cracks had begun to allow water in his helmet so while he was in the air he quickly unsealed his suit and threw his helmet off, gasping for breath

The problem with what he had just done and he had not taken into account…well there were two. One was brought to his attention as over an open radio yzak yelled "SHIHO! NICOL YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!" and proceeded to grab the sparking and nearly disabled blitz and threw it, physically with his machine after dropping his shield and rifle, THREW the blitz towards the island where the three super powered machines were still going at it, though at this point Noah was out of trans-am and had beaten down the prototype guaiz but was still in a deadly match with the unknown mobile suit.

As the blitz hit the ground and slid Nicol could hear the sparks and sizzle of the controls being fried, from the water though some were obviously hardened and would still react but barely the machine itself on death row. But he knew yzak would be along shortly so he quickly got what little of the blitz that still worked to work and somehow got it on its feet….just in time to be knocked back down as yzak came in and kicked the blitz after jumping off his flight platform.

No one seemed to be paying attention to Dearka aside from mu and Tolle but even then they were basically flies compared to him in the buster, even with help from the archangel.

"Yzak I'm sorry…I didn't know…but still. You know as well as I do…it was me or her…"said Nicol over the same channel.

"Doesn't matter Amalfi! Your still gonna die." Yzak replied as the duel slowly walked over to the kneeling blitz. It couldn't seem to find the strength in its right leg to fully stand. "Accept your death with dignity you traitor…"he said as the duel activated a beam saber and came down for the killing blow.

It was at that moment though that Nicol saw one of Noah's beam sabers laying on the ground by his intact left arm. Quickly he grabbed it, activated it and pierced the duels torso just above the cockpit.

Astounded by the move the duel stumbled back…and exploded. But not before Nicol caught yzak ditching the doomed machine.

Nicol was panting at that point and glanced at his commander's battle…only to see the worst case scenario.

EX-caliber was barely in a better position than the blitz. It had a mangled leg, both arms were missing, the head was crushed but intact. And it's opponent, the white prototype he had called a…tallgeese…it had ditched it's heavy weapon pack, was missing a thruster pod, again a mangled leg and it only had one arm…but it seemed hesitant to finish Noah for some reason.

But then the most horrible thing came over the emergency frequency as the blitz had self-adjusted to that channel due to its damage.

"Hey Noah…you're not the only one with tricks up his sleeve." It was Heine….and right after saying that, his mangled flight pack that sat behind EX-caliber raised its remaining Artemis cannon…and fired straight through the GN drive.

A moment later the once legendary machine, the god of war, angel of death…exploded into a mass of red GN particles.

Nicol was horrified. His commander…had been shot down. Noah's machine was no more. The entire battlefield seemed to stop until Tolle made the biggest mistake he could have.

Everyone was surprised though by what came over the radio next…

"**NOAH!" **screamed a woman over the open comms. Shortly after the tallgeese fell to its knees and turned grey, the pilot seeming to shut it down as Noah's death had somehow affected her.

_The day the world burned_

*back in the build fighters universe*

It had been almost 3 months since Noah had come out of the simulator and Luke had come back to check on him and hear the rest of his tale. From what he saw Noah seemed to be in good spirits, still determined to go back, but he had clearly gotten back to his original weight, he had cut his hair…he looked like the old Noah.

But Noah's tale had finally come to an end, Noah currently on a pregnant pause after mentioning the archangel going on alert from the zala team's ambush.

"So…what happened next?" asked Luke, enthralled by this tale after finally giving up on trying to explain it all. Noah's new attitude, his reflexes, his knowledge of gundams…hell even his skills in a gunpla battle…there was no mistaking it…especially when he had seen him in town one day and followed him to the one year war arena. They had tablets you could rent for an hour or more and chairs to sit and watch certain fighters. So he had watched Noah as he fought in a gunpla he had never seen him use.

It had been a custom kampfer. And he was fighting on the federation side but Luke didn't bother question that. Noah had always stood by the fact that Zeon was based on the Nazi's and so Noah disliked them by default…but he loved their mobile suits.

What he had seen…it had him convinced Noah was a different person, even if he now looked like he did before the simulator. He tore through Zeon like they were nothing but flies.

Noah took a deep breath and sighed.

"**My final and greatest fight in the cosmic era began. Well what I thought would be my final fight…"**

The day the world burned

As soon as it was confirmed that the tallgeese and GuAIZ were on the field Noah told miriallia to forget the catapult. He pushed his accelerator to the max and shot out of the launch tunnel, the moment he passed the doors he activated his trans-am, ignoring the groan he heard as the phase shift replacement panels and the spot welds were put to the test with the G's he pulled in trans-am.

He flew right past the zala team even as he saw the CGUE deep arms type and wanted to warn Nicol. No…he had someone he had to beat.

In his cockpit sat Nina's note, her request of him…

"**Sorry for just walking out on you…I should warn you I pulled a gun on you while you slept. I could have killed you…should have killed you. But I couldn't. There's this…attachment I seem to have to you. I can't explain it. But while I showered I thought about what you said…that one of us had to be destroyed. Noah…I can't kill you. This…link between us…I don't think I could go on without you. So you damn well better pull out all the stops…and you better kill me. Because if I kill you…I will never forgive you…cause it means you went easy on me…"**

With that note in mind Noah flew right to her and before she could even raise her Agni cannon he rammed into her with his shield, forcing her and her back before boosting after her and kicking her right in her cockpit door.

Kill her…how could he? He would not hold back but if he can save Nicol…he can save her.

As Nina flew down to one of the islands below Noah was reminded of Heine as he opened up with barrage attack on him. With his trans-am Noah quickly dodged between all the shots and boosted to him. He also kicked Heine but away from the island.

Deciding Heine was best to get rid of first he raised his left arm and his heat sabers opened slightly, letting fly a flurry of rockets which turned to fly right to the machine. He had to thank Erica for resupplying him with missiles….especially managing to make micro missiles in 48 hours.

As Heine raised his shield to block the ones he couldn't shoot down Noah took advantage of his trans-am still in effect and floored it right to him. The moment he lower his shield Noah brought up his new "GN short saber" a sharpened and rapidly repaired version of his broken blade.

Lacking phase shift armor the powerful physical blade cut the shield in half and the zaft red raised his rifle and hip based railguns, hoping to get Noah to back off.

Instead he fired at the after image of EX-caliber, the machine going behind him to kick him off his backpack-turned flight platform. The lucky thing about it was as he flew towards the island he recalled the backpack and it attached to his back, allowing him to turn around only to have his head grabbed as Noah boosted towards the island.

The Guaiz shook violently as Noah dragged it along the ground. And threw it into a large rock, breaking it with the machine.

By now Nina had recovered and a crimson beam quickly kept Noah from continuing his assault.

Suddenly Noah found himself being pinged on comms by the archangel "WHAT!?" he yelled at murrue from her personal terminal. His adrenaline had forced him into somewhat of a rage. or so he thought.

Murrue gasped, never expecting such a reaction, "I was just checking to see if you're ok, you're hitting them pretty hard but…what's wrong with your eyes?" she asked, looking at him and noticing something odd…his eyes…they were glowing, his iris' now a golden color.

Noah blinked. "w-what do you mean?" he asked. That one distraction had him crying out in pain as he was hit by another barrage from Heine. It seemed Nina had fallen back, once again insisting on supporting Heine.

Noah growled and cut the communication. It could wait till later. But his eyes were glowing? That…was a symbol of an innovator…

He shook his head as he raised his shield to block a shot from Heine before the prototype boosted towards him, dropping the rifle in favor of a beam saber.

Noah brought op his GN short saber and blocked the saber, pushing the Guaiz back before it lowered its Artemis cannons and brought out the xiphias railguns and fired.

Noah boosted to the left, moments left in his trans-am, and dodged them before flying at the GuAIZ. "Heine westenfluss…this is where you die!" he shouted as he activated his beam saber in his GN sword three system and moved for a downward slash.

Instead of bisecting the machine he met his right shoulder, cutting its arm off but he quickly brought his shield back around and bashed the EFT in the head, this time not connecting long enough to take its head off.

But still he cracked the main camera systems lens, practically disabling it.

As his trans-am faded he took the stunned moment as Heine adapted to the lost screen and disengaged both his sword and shield system and his shield with a shower of sparks, opting to grapple the zaft prototype.

As Heine tried to get him to release him Noah pushed him back but turned him at the same time. "I don't think you need this anymore!" he exclaimed, again grappling the machine before grabbing its right Artemis cannon. He grunted as with all his machines might he pulled on the cannon till he forced the pack off, hearing the metal groan and break the locking system.

Before Heine could try to take control of its flight system Noah jumped off him and did a front flip over it, as he arched over it he used his wrist beam Vulcans to destroy the thrusters on the pack, disabling its flight capabilities.

Heine seemed to glance at Nina though, obviously concerned she wasn't helping him. Which she wasn't she was too torn with fighting Noah and just letting him end her.

In that moment of distraction Noah boosted once more at him and kneed him in the back. His machine would be slow for a bit so he had to make every boost count.

Angling around him as he tried to turn around and hit him with the xiphias railguns. Instead as they folded out Noah grabbed them with both hands, the gundams fingers slowly crushing the barrels before he again kneed him back.

The EFT guaiz was now defenseless. No weapons, one arm…and a beam saber! Noah had forgotten about it and as he closed in on it the desperate pilot didn't even bother getting up from where he lay. He grabbed his beam saber, ignited it and threw it at Noah. A simply turn to the side and the saber flew past him.

Reaching behind his left arm Noah pulled one of EX-calibers spare beam sabers. "Time to end this pointless game…"he said coldly as he spun the blade in his hand and raised his arm.

Just as he was about to bring the blade down on Heine's cockpit his screen was filled with white and the arm bashed aside by a familiar shield. The beam saber flew out of Noah's hand and off to the right into an open area.

Noah quickly boosted back and growled. "Guess it's time for this fight….Nina yong..."he said in a cold, emotionless voice. Quickly he rose off the ground, his GN drive recharged and boosted to the side as she raised her Agni cannon and fired.

Swiftly he flew to where he had dropped his equipment and scooped it up in his hands, reequipping it and raising his left arm to block another Agni shot. He had to grit his teeth as his shield took the full brunt of the shot. When it ended he found his shield sparking, the metal having been fragile and unrepaired from the start of this fight. He quickly ditched the shield and boosted to his right to dodge another shot.

Raising his left arm his sword locked into its stowed position and he unleashed a flurry of red death from his GN repeater at Nina. She merely raised her shield and blocked them. But while blocking them she ditched her Agni pack and boosted at him, pulling a beam saber from her shield and raising her arm.

As the brought it down Noah blocked it with his sword and shield system, pushing her away before reaching under his right arm with his left and pulling out another beam saber.

As she attacked him relentlessly with the beam saber he blocked with his shield, parried, countered. It was a dance.

But soon it ended as he blocked one last time with his shield and she managed to cut it in half. He threw it to the side and it exploded. He then boosted back to dodge another strike and dropped his beam saber, reaching behind his waist and pulling out his two beam throwing daggers.

But Nina blocked them after he threw them, one on his shield, and another with her beam saber.

It was coming down to the wire and Noah knew this was going to play out just as they both wanted. One of them would die…but in EX-calibers state he wasn't sure if he'd be the one to live.

Sure enough he found her once again on a slashing streak. He dodged one, two, three, but finally he ignited a beam saber from his left beam emitter in his wrist and blocked it. The beam wasn't as strong as hers sadly but he was able to push her's back.

As he raised his right arm she brought her shield up to block what she thought was a volley from his beam Vulcans but instead she found him grabbing her head, igniting the second saber as the left wrist was turned off and he brought his right arm down at her shoulder, the beam briefly being resisted by her phase shift armor but it quickly cut her right arm off.

Taking a few steps back Noah panted as this fight was beginning to take its toll on him for some reason. Was it that glow in his eyes?

Again a moment of distraction found her beam saber cutting through his left arm before she dropped her own saber and tore his arm off her face.

Noah grit his teeth as she punched his gunplas head, physically punched it, the strength of the wing series machine causing the head to push in on itself, essentially crushing it. As she moved to grab it to tear it off Noah boosted around her right side and quickly grabbed one of her thruster pods right as it opened with his remaining hand. "No you don't" he yelled as with her trying to boost away and his grip it tore the booster off, causing her to instead boost up and into a cliff that led to a forested part of the island.

The tallgeese hit the cliff and fell, landing on its right knee as Nina tried to right herself. With the weight of the machine on it the knee crumpled and it didn't help when as she stood Noah boosted over and kicked her knee, nearly crushing the joint but still she was able to stand, carefully.

She returned the blow in kind though as Noah tried to boosted back but she grabbed the stub of his left arm and forced him to the ground, carefully taking a step forward and bringing her uninjured leg down on his right knee.

Thankfully the GN particles in his gundam kept the knee somewhat intact but it would need repaired.

Now it was Nina's turn to jump back, falling to one knee though as she had to slowly get back up to stabilize herself.

As Noah got up she seemed to be as desperate to live…oddly…as Heine as she grabbed one of her two heavy DINN swords mounted over her left shoulder and threw it at him, seeming to have not known about her machines inner strength till she punched EX-calibers head.

The blade caught Noah's right arm and had enough inertia to cause Noah to have to turn right in order to simply keep it dug into his arm. But Nina used that moment to boost towards him. She grabbed the sword and dragged it through his arm at the elbow before slashing at EX-caliber torso, causing it to stumble back and land on its back.

Now Noah was in Heine's position. Defenseless, literally….waiting for the end as he decided to at least try and live, using his GN drive to lift himself up and right himself.

Though just as he did a new, open comm line opened up with him and everyone on the field.

It was Heine, "hey Noah…guess what, you're not the only one with tricks up your sleeve." And before Noah could wonder what he meant his world went dark.

_The day the world burned_

Murrue grit her teeth as the buster landed another hit on them. At least 4 different battles were all going on at once…no 3…she recounted as she saw an explosion off to her left by the island.

Flay, now under Noah orders having taken Sai's place as electronic warfare and enemy detection in the CIC, called out a response to the explosion, "the duel has been destroyed by Nicol!"

Murrue silently felt relieved. One down, four to go. "What's the blitz's status?" she called out. She had seen it take heavy damage before it dove off the ship.

"Nicol is broadcasting an SOS but it's coming from the blitz…its damaged ma'am but still here." Replied flay. Her tone was serious. Whatever had her…well had her desert the earth alliance and join celestial being. Seemed to have changed her. She assumed it had something to do with Noah's talk with her back in Africa and her visit with her father.

Murrue hadn't mentioned to her anything about her lack of uniform…but she was technically, according to Noah and nicol's new outfits wearing celestial beings uniform. The pink accents likely having to do with her gender whereas nicol's black and Noah's red likely were a sign of which suit they piloted.

Murrue groaned as she ship shook again, but more violently.

"The buster just took out our port valiant...it took our levitator with it…we can't hold our current lift…"called out Ensign Neumann as he tried to keep the ship steady.

"Run emergency power to the backup levitator!" called out natarle.

"No good! We can't stay in the air much longer!" called out the ensign.

Murrue bit her lip. If they made a c rash landing they would be sitting ducks…especially if Noah didn't finish his battle soon.

That was when things hit the fan in a massive turn of events. As she was about to call for an emergency landing a bright green flash went off and everyone looked to the island where Noah and the porotypes were fighting.

Murrue's heart sank in fear….EX-caliber….it had been destroyed. "E-emergency landing! Put us down on that island!" she called out and the ensign began to maneuver them over the island

"The buster is moving to attack the other valiant!" called out flay.

"Aim godfrieds and valiant, shoot down the buster!" called out natarle.

Just at that moment they finally crashed down, everyone gripping their seats as the ship slid along the ground, making a massive trench in its wake.

Murrue looked out the main window and saw the buster lining up for another shot…it combined its guns and prepared a fire…

Out of the sky a green beam came down and hit the buster's flight platform. Soon after Tolle came down, the sword pack still attached. Utilizing the cables that held the anti-ship sword too his fighter he swung it out and just before he began to climb back up he caught the buster as it jumped off the platform, cutting its beam rifles barrel in half.

Just as that exploded and Tolle flew off to help Kira as the duel with the aegis seemed to be getting hairy another shot came from the sky, this one a crimson blast which hit the busters left arm, taking the shoulder, the arm, even the side skirt holding his anti-armor shotgun in place…but not before he got one last shot off which connected with Mu's left wing.

With that hit the buster was forced to the ground…

_The day the world burned_

Dearka groaned as he moved his controls. After the assault from the two fighters he had been grounded. "Hydraulics aren't responding, drive pull is decreasing…crap!" he shouted as he slammed his fists on his controls. He looked up though when his alarm rang out that he was being targeted. He activated the command to show him what was targeting him and it zoomed in on the legged ships heavy guns.

"Damn it…" he grumbled as he opened his cockpit…to the click of a safety…

As Dearka slowly stood up in his cockpit and climbed out he found Nicol standing on the buster's torso, his standard issue zaft flight pack active. It seemed his must have used it to follow his descent.

At that moment he sighed and held his hands up. "Why did you have to kill yzak? Can I at least have that answered?" He said quietly as Nicol kept his side arm trained on him.

"Normally I'd say the usually line of it was me or him…but I didn't kill him. I destroyed the duel yes…but I watched him escape. He's alive, somewhere, likely licking his wounds and waiting for the battle to be over to call for help. But I will say that shiho…I didn't want to kill her…but she had every intent to kill me…"said Nicol as he lowered his gun. "guess I wasn't worth rescuing huh…"stated Nicol as Dearka kept his hands up, knowing Nicol was likely expendable to the legged ship this close to Alaska and if he tried anything their heavy guns would open up on them.

_The day the world burned_

Tolle circled the battle between Kira and the aegis. The two seemed to be going at it pretty hard, more so then usual.

He watched as they traded blows, neither one giving in or leaving any openings. He had learned a few things about these machines though while on the bridge. This much fighting…they were both likely nearly out of power.

With that in mind he watched as a thunder storm slowly rolled in. " I need to try and give Kira some room…maybe I can give him the sword pack for more battery power…" he thought as he made one more circle around and went into a dive…

As he came back up, level with their machines he opened a channel to Kira. "Kira get back, I'm gonna get you some space so you can change equipment!" said Tolle as he fired a few lasers at the aegis.

"Tolle no stay back!" cried Kira but it was too late. The brunette coordinator had to watch as even for Tolle, as he let a missile loose the aegis jumped out of the way…and threw its shield.

In that moment Tolle could only pray miriallia found someone nice to be with…someone who treated her as well as he did.

After that thought the sharp end of the shield pierced his canopy and the large object proceeded to crush his cockpit…and him.

_The day the world burned_

Kira was just…he was…there was no way to describe the way he felt as a bolt of lightning struck between him and athrun once the aegis landed.

Noah was dead…Tolle was dead…

And yet him and athrun promised to kill each other in space and neither one had had to heart to finish things…till now.

Kira's mind went blank as he watched a seed burst in his mind's eye.

"Athrun! I`m going to kill you!" her yelled as he boosted at the aegis and swung his beam saber.

It didn't connect, instead the aegis jumped and front flipped over him, firing his head Vulcans as he did so.

In an act similar but opposite to Noah and Nina in Africa Kira spun the strike around but instead of slicing off athruns arm like Noah did he dropped his shield and grabbed his second beam saber, bringing it up as the aegis landed in a upward slash/jab and it found it's mark, taking the aegis' head with it.

A moment later athrun replied in kind by bringing his right arm up, slicing off Kira's left arm, forcing the arm, saber and his own head to fall to the ground.

Another flash of lightning came between them and as Kira tried to boost back athrun boosted towards him, slashing at his torso. It connected and Kira had to look away to keep glass and metal from hitting his helmet.

When he turned back he brought his right arm up and moved away from the aegis. Just as he predicted somehow the aegis turned and tried to take another slash at him with its left arm.

This time Kira took his shield arm.

Neither of them were looking to their battery's thought as athrun cried out and jumped up, transforming the aegis and grappling the strike.

"This is for yzak!" he cried out as Kira's eyes went wide, seeing his Scylla cannon charging up. Sadly at that moment the aegis ran out of power and the charge faded.

Thinking quickly and seeing the strike begin to move and try to get him off he opened his self-destruct code keypad. Putting in the number he set the aegis to blow up, opening the cockpit and ditching with the flight pack built into his flight suit.

With tears in his eyes athrun tried to get away from the exploding machine but he felt silent karma and retribution as the gundams exploded and the shockwave flung him across the island, blacking out when he hit the ground.

_The day the world burned_

As the thunder storm settled on the island murrue tried to calm her heart. The heavy beating not stopping even as the fighting ended. Well…somewhat. The two prototypes were still out there. Beaten, battered…but they were still active.

Flay though reported, through miriallia's cries to skygraspers two/Tolle, to the strike/Kira…trying to disprove their destruction, that neither prototype was moving in any way. That was one blessing.

Utilizing the busters still working comm system Nicol reported in, stating he had a Dearka elsman tied up by the buster and was currently making rapid, quick repairs to the buster to try and get it moveable.

He also stated the blitz was nearly toast.

So…Noah was gone, the blitz was barely holding together, they had the buster but it was in barely any better condition than the blitz but it sounded like should, by all things unholy and god damn unlucky, zaft attack again, Nicol could pilot the buster as a backup.

Mu had been shot down but not destroyed.

Skygraspers 2 was gone even if miriallia wouldn't accept it…

And the strike…for all it survived, for all Kira survived…the strike was gone.

And Kira with it….

"Get the most necessary repairs done to get us in the air, leave skygraspers one where it is but recover lieutenant commander la flaga, recover the Nicol and the blitz along with the buster and its pilot. Put mister elsman in the brig…"that was all she said before getting out of her chair and leaving the bridge, not even stating who had the bridge but it was obvious. Natarle as her XO would be taking over for at least a 6 hour shift or till murrue came back.

Murrue…she…so much loss…so much death…

Tears flowed down her cheeks as she couldn't held them back anymore.

"Noah…you said you`d protect us…and you did but…what will we do now?" she whispered. Even if they were not far from the Alaskan air defenses still…the ship suddenly felt like it was in far more danger without the angel of death onboard…and knowing it never would be again.

**The day the world burned**

**SO….. I know I promised 2 chapters in orb…well you tell me…do you really wanna read a likely shitty, short chapter about murrue and mu? I mean I could make it longer and include plenty of filler about Erica repairing EX-caliber, Nicol and Kira interacting over repairing the code for the astrays…**

**But do you really wanna read that….or did you wanna read this chapter full of epicenes? **

**Also I hope you liked the fights…I tried my best to follow my own path of what weapons they used, damages they took…all that. But we will see**

**Anyways if you guys really want another chapter in orb I will need 19 more reviews FROM DIFFERENT PEOPLE, 19 separate reviews…demanding a lemon scene or more orb content.**

**Next chapter we get to see Noah start his time in the world championship…and by the end of that chapter you will meet...the Gabriel gundam. **

**Oh one more thing…well two in one. Three…lol just here...**

**I`m aware the CGUE deep arms does not have any beam claws…call it authors creativity or whatever…deal with it.**

**I`m aware that Nicols cockpit should have been fried in the water and he likely should not have been able to breath or see or whatever…I'm being creative for good action…sue me if it matters that much or don't read it…cause it's gonna happen more often….it's gundam.**

**I`m aware Tolle and…well Nicol…but Tolle and him die in different episodes, different battles AND that Kira did not kill yzak in here but I wanted to wrap it all up in one battle. Again…don't like it don't read it. **

**So as always, don't forget to review, always want feedback, keeps me writing, and keeps me inspired.**

**P.S. a small sneak peek for their return to orb and to make up for halfassing the wrap up of orb…don't hate me cause I'm lazy, it's 2 am, and I don't wanna fix that..**

Erica sat at her desk and sighed. The archangel just left. Along with the infamous EX-caliber. So much technology she could design just off that, let alone the little bit of technology Noah let her see.

At least she had his gift for her. Maybe it was information on how to make that "GN drive" as he called it.

She lifted the tablet he had left behind that he said held her surprise and activate it, putting in the password he left her.

The moment she did so it began opening files, showing schematics for a new mobile suit, a striker pack…even a theoretical equation to make an alloy known as "gundanium" and a way to make an "ultra-compact fission reactor".

The most surprising part, was a theory that, by encasing the reactor in gundanium, it would block out the N-jammers and allow a battery to be hooked up to it. From there it could constantly feed the battery with power, making the battery unable to run out of power.

There was only one problem…"gundanium alloy can only be manufactured in space…" she said quietly.

Mulling over the thought of sharing this data she found he had included a way to transfer the data to her private terminal and then send it to who she needed to.

In minutes she put a highly classified data packet out to one of their other colonies with instructions to make just enough of this…gundanium…if possible, to make this casing.

In the meantime she began to go over this mobile suit design…

"Build strike full package...2.0?" she said quietly.

**End spoiler**

**Don't judge me on using the build strike. It's a present for mu after they find the strikes remains and go to rebuild it. Same with the gundanium stuff, as stated he sent her theories that he has researched as well as a theory on how to get that whole set up to work…**

**Also since it is a present for mu I have a surprise way to include the full package build booster's ability to disengage from the build strike and be an independent fighter…but you`ll just have to wait to find out…**

**Or not if this potentially ruins the story for you. And no…I will not suddenly have orb roll out a whole series of nuclear powered mobile suits made of gundanium…chill your boots Erica isn't stupid, that would grab too much attention.**


	14. world tournament part one

Noah took a deep breath as he pushed his chair back from his work bench. 2 months…he had done it in 3 technically as that was how long it had been since he got out of his simulation…but he had done it. On the table sat a pitch black and metallic blood red custom gundam 00 seven sword/g named "Gabriel", an angelic white custom blitz named the blitz jaeger with a custom death scythe cloak in the form of a trench coat covering its torso. It sat to the left of the Gabriel gundam. On its right was a custom buster. It was named the buster panzer, a bash between an enhanced buster gundam and the zoids model known as "liger zero panzer". The gundam was strong enough and had enough guns and missiles that by Noah's calculations, with the right pilot, hopefully that being Dearka, this could give trowa and heavy arms a run for its money.

He wiped some sweat off his brow and smiled. The first three gundams of his personal cell of celestial being. When he went back…the cosmic era would not know what hit them. He stood up and stretched. He looked to his clock and smiled. He was just in time. He grabbed the Gabriel gundam and put it in his gunpla case at his waist carefully before grabbing his travel bag. Looking back real quick though he grabbed the two special gunpla and put them in their own cases and added them to his travel bag supplies. The bag held enough spare models he would never have to repair one for his next fight.

In his living room sat the husks of now two of his simulation cockpits. He was almost ready to gear up and head there. But as he glanced to them he pictured Nina in one of them…he gripped his bag tightly and headed for his front door. Outside sat Luke, waiting patiently for him. He got in the car and Luke looked to him. He had a look of determination on his face. He was going to win the tournament. He couldn't go back till he had that trophy to prove his gunpla was worthy lf crushing zala and azreal. With that look Luke silently started the car and began to head to the world tournament….where sei would be competing as a guest of the meijin, who would also be participating. He intended to beat them both. If he could do that…then maybe he'd be strong enough to rescue her...

_World tournament: 48 hours later_

Noah looked around the tournament arena. So many fighters were here. They all had bested their local competition to represent their block of their respective countries….and no one was more dangerous than the meijin and sei who were discussing the fact that a couple weeks prior China had given birth and the mighty meijin was concerned his friend should be with her and not here. But Noah knew even if it meant she spent the last week of their first month as parents alone she would never hold sei back from the tournament. Hell she likely had had to Ban him from the house, throwing a travel bag together, kicking him out then throwing it at him and locking him out. Noah smiled, knowing sei's kind heart and imagining such a scene. Finally the announcer of the tournament, the new face of gunpla mirai kamiki, began to explain the rules and congratulate them on making it so far.

Noah took a deep breath and as the massive arena meant for the finals and the second stage free for all fight turned on, prompting everyone to place their gp base. He pulled his out and set it on the podium before him. He then pulled his new pride and joy. A machine he intended to keep in the best condition possible.

It was the machine he planned to use in EX-caliber's place once he went back to the cosmic era, and the machine he hoped to face each of the fighters from the 7th world championship in…

He place the Gabriel gundam on the GP base, looking it over real quick to make sure everything was in order.

On its shoulders sat its 2 GN buster swords. Each of his basic machines he had designed to fight in the one year war was like a machine from the wing series. It was based on a defining trait either in terms of its build or its capabilities, but either way they were based on this machine.

Like his zaku "phantom pain" the swords were shields, but if needed he could quickly remove them and use them as a shield or a weapon depending on the situation. The handles of the blades were a dark yet shiny metallic red, mica red was the color of paint he had chosen. The blades themselves were pitch black, flat, and a good contrast to the shiny handles.

His whole gundam was like this. Any white parts on the former gundam 00 seven swords/g was black, the rest was mica red.

On his back between the twin drive system was a unique feature. Instead of the normal backpack and thrusters, the 00[T]'s sword bit/shield system sat on his back…and inside it was a surprise. On either side of it though sat a GN buster sword 2. These were his primary weapons during heavy fighting but otherwise technically his secondary weapons.

In both his hands were the GN sword rifles of the harute gundam, remolded and up scaled to fit in the hands of the 1/100th scale gunpla. These were his primary weapons, 3 weapons in one, what was not to love for Noah's new fighting style?

The rest of its loadout was quite standard. A pair of GN katar's on its legs, at its hip's sat a GN short and long sword kai. And on its back skirt was its pair of GN beam throwing daggers/beam sabers.

All in all the gundam was a stark contrast to his original gundam. There was no custom battle damage, no fancy cloak, nothing really hidden, weapon wise at least. This was a whole new machine and Noah had yet to even test it.

Yes…every aspect of this machine was untested…and Noah was craving the challenge.

As the battle system let them launch he smiled, "Noah Carson, Gabriel gundam…LAUNCHING!" he called out and with that his gunpla was flung into the arena at an unknown location.

After the 8th years competition not getting as much…appreciation even with great fighters like sei coming back to fight once more after the catastrophe the new group funding the tournament had begun following the mad chairman's last example…which it was discovered had all been an attempt to knock reiji out of the tournament…but had added all sorts of twists to any event in the tournament, even the one vs one matches.

While most fighters hated this the company didn't exactly care…it brought up ratings, made people enjoy matches, and they made sure the twists didn't give any specific fighter an advantage.

But like now as Noah entered the survival match and found himself floating in space a timer was already up in his cockpit for the first event. Just like the seventh world tournament it would be a mega sized mobile suit that would be released into the match.

Noah planned to be there but till then he boosted out into space with a small turn towards earth. If he couldn't find anyone by the time he hit the archangel's entry point he'd go to earth and fight.

Sadly right as he made this plan he had to roll to the right to dodge a beam, then the left. Finally he stopped and climbed above another beam.

Zooming in on his opponent it was a simple zaku sniper….well…maybe not simple. It was beefed up.

The base model was obviously a converted zaku 2 not one…but the rifle was bulked up. It looked more closely in resemblance to a Barret 50. Cal then the original beam sniper rifle of a zaku sniper.

Still a fight was a fight, even if the zaku noticeably tensed as it began to turn in the zero-g of space. Clearly the fighter had won his fights on the ground and had yet to really fight in space…odd….

Either way Noah was quick to teach him the lesson of tuning his machine for all environments.

Putting the right GN sword rifle on its mount on the back of his waist, he boosted to the left to dodge another beam. They were bright and soon more fighters would be on them….good thing he had so many to go through till any real competitors showed up

As the sniper tried to match his sights onto Noah while dealing with recoil in space Noah's right hand slowly came to hover over the handle for his right GN buster sword 2 on his back. This would take precise timing as he could see the outline of a nebula blitz cloaked up and trying to sneak up on the sniper. After fighting with Nicol he had learned quick how to spot cloaked enemies even in space

"2 for one time…"he stated as his left buster sword swung forward and easily blocked the snipers last shot with a partial GN field. Afterwards Noah boosted forward.

Not expecting the sudden movement the sniper quickly boosted back and fired wildly at Noah.

the blitz was still unaware he had been seen and so just as he was about to spear the zaku sniper Noah brought his GN buster sword two up and took aim, pulled the trigger, and watched his own thin, long sniper style shot leave the custom metal barrel of his GN buster sword 2 and spear not only the zaku sniper but it caught the nebula blitz as well.

As both machines went up in flames Noah turned around and brought his left GN sword rifle's blade through what should have been nothing but black space. Instead one could have almost heard the thin tearing sound of the active camouflage cloak as he cut through it. The gouf underneath looked surprised.

Noah had to sweat drop. That explained the sniper…the gouf he was looking at was the same one he had claimed as his first kill in the one year war tournament. "You just never learn do you?" he asked as the gouf finally reacted, bringing up its new chain gun to try and get Noah first.

Instead Noah simply flicked his right wrist before bringing it swiftly to the left, turning his GN buster sword 2 to the side so the red condensed GN particle blade showed and brought it through the waist of the gouf.

The blade was so sharp and thin, so well made that the gouf stopped responding before the pilot could realize what Noah did. Instead he boosted off and away before the blue machine exploded. "Serves you right moron…"muttered Noah as his machine spun around and he turned towards the earth, placing his buster sword 2 back on its rack and replacing it with his second GN sword rifle.

He had had his fun in zero gravity, but he missed the feeling of his machines weight…he sighed. He missed them all so much…

_World tournament part one:_

While what obviously by previously set time lines should have already been the end of gundam seed as previous notes of Noah's activities back home state he has been gone for months…for him anyways.

But for the archangel it had only been a few hours. Nicol had gotten the buster fixed enough that he managed to drag the blitz onboard before a pair of dinns showed up. The buster was in no shape to fight but it seemed the dinn's weren't there for them.

The bridge crew had watched a zaft submarine show up, they watched them recover the two "EX-caliber level" prototypes, then left, dinn's and all.

While this did confuse natarle and the crew that was left on the bridge, murrue still locked away in her cabin, they were also relieved as the sub didn't even try to barter their lives for the return of the buster and its pilot.

Natarle assumed it was because the machines they recovered did their job and considered the gat series scrapped. After all, Nicol got captured and even turned, the aegis and strike took each other out, the blitz managed to destroy the duel and their other new prototype…meanwhile they never once beat or came close to EX-calibers combat level.

Those two did…and even finally did the impossible.

They destroyed the angel of death, the god of war…they killed Noah…they destroyed EX-caliber.

To get them back was likely their top priority.

Finally flay, who had offered to let the other tech students go grieve even though it meant she was taking over EVERYONE'S station for the moment, called out that Murdoch was clearing them for takeoff. Though it was a violation to let them leave like that, even natarle's cold, rule keeping heart had softened at the sight of that mass of red GN particles hanging in the air so she let them have a small break, but still demanded they only be 10 minutes….that was a half hour ago…

She made the call for them to get moving and listened as everyone began to make the ship ready for takeoff. They weren't far from Alaska's air defense line…if zaft REALLY wanted them dead….well…the loss they had just suffered…they`d give them hell but they all knew they were dead in the water even if just a couple dinn's attacked.

She settled into her chair and was silent as with the ships movement jarred everyone back to their senses, the tech students even coming back, apologizing like crazy but she didn't respond.

She didn't want to…because she knew they needed time off more than her.

_World tournament part one_

Nina looked around the island quietly. She had examined the wreckage of the aegis and the strike, though most of what was intact was gone. It had been 24 hours since that fight and orb had come and gone in an attempt to salvage the two gat series machines.

Right now she was trying to find where a certain UFO level advanced mobile suits wreckage had landed. She should have been...

*CRUNCH*

Normally a crunching sound on a rock based island where combat had taken place was obviously gonna happen...but this was different in tone and just sound.

The white haired coordinator looked down and blinked, crouching to pick up…a plastic model? She looked it over, raising the arm with the busted sword, looking at the back to see the hole in the cone that she recognized as the power and propulsion unit of EX-caliber from where Heine had shot him.

She looked up and glanced around, remembering the fight. She was standing right where the gundam would have exploded, she could see pieces of Heine's broken flight platform nearby to prove it.

She looked back at the model. Aside from the hole it was just pretty battered and bruised. But she knew the machine. It was EX- caliber. But why? Where were its remains? Was this it? But how? Had the earth alliance made some kind for shrinking technology?

She sighed and then remembered their night together in orb, holding the piece of plastic to her chest. That was right…in his eventual borderline drunken state Noah had explained his origins. He was from someplace where all this…it was fiction…and he claimed that his machine was just a plastic model scanned into a simulation of said fictional universe…so he was telling the truth.

"Why…why did you hold back? Why am I not dead?" she whispered sadly as she shed a tear for her lover, battlefield rival, and the man she loved and had never wanted to leave in orb. She sighed and stood up, carrying the model with her

After all if this was the legendary machine then the zaft higher ups would wish to see this. She headed back towards the group looking to maybe rescue zala but she doubted they would. After all the amount of parts of the aegis and strike they did find…she didn't see the purple haired boy surviving…unlike yzak.

They had only come back originally due to a distress signal sent out by the young zaft red.

It seemed he had been tossed from his machine after successfully escaping it before it exploded, only to get caught on the shockwave. He had passed out for the rest of the fight and woke up and hid when orb came to retrieve the remains of the battle.

But after hearing what all happened he had been happy to hear of EX-calibers destruction…but to be reminded of his girlfriend's death, to learn of athruns death and the fact he had died at the hands of the strike…he wasn't taking it to well.

Finally she took one more glance around the now battle scarred rocky beach and noticed a few more pieces of plastic. She walked over and picked them up. It was the shield she had cut in half. She blinked. Was there more around?

Now frantically searching every little crevice and crack for the smallest piece of the model she found the busted sword and shield set up. She picked it up and put it in her pocket. She noticed a zaft green coming to likely tell her they were leaving. "You…tell the search teams to give up on zala. If they haven't found him yet mark him MIA! This takes top priority! I want them scouring this beach for any more plastic pieces like this!" she shouted, quickly holding up the remains of EX-caliber.

While confused originally the green ultimately nodded. "Yes ma'am!" they shouted before running back to inform the search team of their temporary leader's decision.

Nina meanwhile went back to searching, not just for the higher ups who would want every piece possible...and in case they deemed it useless junk Nina wanted every piece of her lover's mobile suit to remember him by.

_World tournament part one_

As Noah finally finished re-entry he brought his GN buster swords back to rest at his sides, still resting on his shoulders and special "deep well" GN drives. This also caused the GN field surrounding him to dissipate.

Looking at his machines status he was happy to see the GN field had done wonderfully and he had come through the atmosphere without a scratch. The new gunpla was doing admirably for having not been tested and was operating better than he had predicted.

He checked the time for the mega size event and saw he was only a few minutes from getting to bring the huge gunpla down.

He blinked though as he touched down in the center of a Y shaped crevice amongst some ravine territory and looked around. Considering this match and the previous first round of 4 player free for all were elimination rounds it wasn't uncommon for people who had become friends over the years of competing or that met here and knew they were weak compared to other fighters, they would group up to take on stronger fighters like himself…

Or they also grouped up in the case of being in mobile suits to re-create certain teams. Like now he found himself surrounded by a remake of the 08TH MS team, with their heavy gunner gundam ground type covering his rear, the EZ-8 to his right, and the GM (g) type to his left. Within a second later he was protected by a GN field as they all opened up on him.

He took the time of them trying to drain his GN field to set up his counter as the three on one logic would mean that 2 or all three would draw beam sabers and close in while he dropped his GN field.

Putting in commands for his machine to follow he finished just as they did. The smoke around his GN field hid him from them and vice versa. So while they decided their move he turned and dropped his left GN buster sword perfectly so it made a small shield behind him without him having to dig it into the ground, the impact doing that for him.

It seemed his time in the cosmic era had boosted his tactical knowledge as right as he turned back he found himself face to face with the EZ-8 and the GM (g) who both had beam sabers drawn.

He spun his right buster sword around on his GN drive shoulder mount and blocked one beam saber with it while he brought his left GN sword rifle up to block the other. Within a moment he was able to push them both back.

Deciding to try something a bit risky as the duo jumped back and prepared another charge while their heavy support got another magazine for his cannon from the gundam ground types weapon pack, he leant forward and dug his GN sword rifle into the ground and set his other one in its holster on his back.

Then with his left hand he reached up to the handle of his right buster sword. Noticing this the two low grade gundam in front of him visibly changed stances, thinking the heavy blade would be slow and one of them at least would take out a strong opponent with a lucky strike.

Neither of them knew Noah had reinforced the joints, especially the elbows and shoulders to compensate for the GN buster sword one and 2's heavy weight so he wouldn't need to take a knee to snipe with the buster sword 2's in atmosphere and could one hand the original buster swords.

So as the two gundams charged him he stood up and in one wide swing brought the large sword off his GN drive and all the way around to even change his grip and hold it behind him to block a shot from their heavy gunner.

The two previous machines of course exploded as he turned around and blocked a second shot from the 180 MM cannon. Dropping the buster sword he got out one of his GN buster sword 2s and stepped to the side to dodge another heavy round while holding out his own modified sniper/heavy rifle to aim at the gundam ground type.

No one would notice but behind him within the 00[T]'s shield on his back the third GN "deep well" drive within closed ports on the four openings where GN particles normally poured out and seemed to shut down. Instead the GN/ plavsky particles within were now funneling rapidly to the gun in his hand and within the time it took for the 180 MM cannon to chamber another round and the fighter to aim at Noah the barrel glowed red and Noah smirked. His little upgrade to these rifles….

A second later a blast ripped forth from the single metal barrel that rivaled the wing gundams buster rifle. Filling the canyon they were fighting in the young kid that had worked so hard repairing and fine tuning the gundam ground type just so he could fight here, having thought he was truly good enough to be here even though he had come from a small town in a third world country and therefore damn near won by default in the qualifiers…the kid could only watch as his gundam was pretty much atomized.

He was surprised though when his combat simulator system still chimed with a call for him. He answered it and saw Noah. "While I can't say anything about your friends…I'm sorry you had the misfortune of being the test shot of my GN "hyper drive" system. Find me after the match here, I'll buy you a new model and help you get it all set for next year." Said Noah. The child, about 10, smiled. "Thanks mister…that's a cool gundam you have." He said before Noah smiled and hung up.

With that act of kindness out of the way Noah re-equipped all his weapons, got his buster swords back where they belonged and flexed his fingers, having his gundam take a knee and activate it's active camouflage while he went over his plans for the mega size fight. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Besides he had a new timer on his console which was the timer for his third "deep well" GN drive's refill. With the machine in active camo mode though the drives had a chance to wind down and focus on powering the gundam and replenishing the three "wells" along with the condenser in his torso after that shot and powering the GN field for re-entry and for blocking that teams opening salvos.

_World tournament part one_

As they fled the area Nicol was in the hangar watching the blitz get fixed up. Well, fixed was not exactly a good way to put it. Basically they were stripping its right shoulder connectors to the torso, tearing that side of the torso open and planning to merge it and a replacement right arm for the strike in its place. They offered to try and use shiho's severed right arm as a trophy of sorts but as…well as the leader of celestial being he felt it too barbaric to do that. Besides with the strikes arm he could mount the launcher shoulder and the sword packs shield on that arm. It wouldn't be an ideal arsenal but with Noah gone he had to plan to flee with the blitz. If the E.A. brass didn't recognize him as celestial beings leader and/or take the danger of his presence in their base as a true threat if he wasn't allowed to leave when he decided it was time he needed to be able to fight his way out.

He turned though when he heard the LT commander trying to console miriallia. He walked over and saw her fall to her knees and start crying, the commander even turned and punched the skygraspers training simulator.

He looked between the two and felt Mir…well as she had told him to refer to her as instead of "miss haw" but he felt Mir needed more comforting whereas the commander was likely mainly pissed that they lost so many people today. Then again Nicol was pretty much ready to break down himself. He was alone…well he had flay under his command technically but she…wasn't…exactly a real asset…to him anyways.

The only thing was he was fooling himself when he reached out and pout a hand on her shoulder. Before he could say anything the brunette turned and hugged him, sobbing into his shoulder. "Bring them back Nicol…they can't be M.I.A….they just can't…" she sobbed as even Nicol found tears in his eyes. He patted her back and sighed. "I…I can't…as much as I know of a hundred different cliché lines to say here…I just lost my commanding officer and 2…no four of my friends…so…"finally he broke down as well, realizing how close he obviously still was with athrun, and he had even begun to hold Kira in high regard after learning about everything between him and athrun and sharing stories of their times with him. And Noah…the young man held the coordinator teen up as obviously not just a subordinate but a friend…

So yeah…yeah he'd lost more than a few friends today. Hell Dearka probably hated his guts so he should probably include him…and yzak…yzak would never let him killing shiho go…if they ever met again and Nicol wasn't in anything more than the blitz…he was screwed.

_World tournament part one_

Cagalli couldn't help but grab her stomach with one hand and cover her mouth with her other as she walked onto the beach of the island the coordinates the archangel gave them lead to. She looked around and saw mechanical parts, scarred ground, even burnt out forest everywhere. Whatever happened here not only trashed the machines involved but it also trashed the island itself.

The thoughts that ran through her head…as she stood there it was all she could do to keep herself from losing her lunch. After a moment though she saw the remains of the strike, pretty well in tact if charred to all hell.

"it appears the aegis self-destructed and tried to take the strike with it..."said kisaka as he walked up next to her only to have cagalli run off and shove one of the orb rescue workers out of her way before climbing up onto the remains of the brave multi-purpose war machine. "cagalli!" he shouted, running after her, knowing she likely wasn't ready to see what likely would be inside.

He never got a look inside before cagalli's stance spoke of sadness. "Kira…"she said with sorrow in her voice. "I'm sorry…"he began to say but she stopped him. "He's not here, the cockpits empty. He must have been thrown somewhere, or maybe he ejected in time…" she stated before running off after hearing someone call HIS name, not hers…HIS…reckless girl. Before following he glanced inside and prayed she was right.

The cockpit wasn't fried or charred as it likely should have been, but still the blast had melted almost everything inside, the leather seat was even melted, not dry and crispy but melted.

Finally he jumped off the machines mainly intact leg and went after the girl. In its condition the mobile suit likely would be repaired which gave kisaka hope that Kira was in fact ok, having enjoyed seeing cagalli interact with him and the enigmatic pilot of EX-caliber….speaking of…had they not also been told that the angel of death had finally been brought down as well? Where were its remains? Or did its fight end else-ware?

He followed cagalli to the group of orb marines and was surprised to see a zaft red uniform instead of Kira's blue flight suit. He could only frown and worry for his fiery charge as she looked down at the young man. To think a group of kids her age gave the archangel hell while one…well ultimately 2 teens of the same age gave them just as much as they dished out…then EX-caliber and Noah made anyone standing against him wet their pants and surrender just from the stories.

By now most were exaggerated legends basically, myths even, of his machines and the red demonic aura that followed it in the form of its GN particles.

What would she do now though…and he still wanted to know where Noah ended up or what actually happened to him…

_World Tournament part one_

"Hey be gentle will ya? I`m injured ya know! You guys are as bad as they claim in training…"exclaimed Dearka as he was guided through the crew quarters towards the brig after having been stripped, searched, and given some basic clothing.

As he was lead through the ship though he noticed a brunette in the crowd of crewman watching him. Ignoring the guns jabbed into his back to get him to move he stopped. "Well I'll be damned…at least you have one cute girl onboard this flying wreck. But give me a break? What's with the tears?" he said in a mocking tone before laughing as he was forced to move. "please…if anyone should be crying it's me…after all I'm probably gonna have my execution covered up as some interrogation gone wrong accident or some shit like that…" he said and he heard them have to hold someone back from taking a swing at him…but he still found himself on the floor with his jaw hurting.

With a grunt he rolled over onto his back and looked up to see Nicol, eyes red and cheeks stained with tears.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ELSMAN! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY`VE BEEN THROUGH AND YET YOU MOCK THEM WHEN THEY JUST LOST TWO OF THEIR CLOSEST FRIENDS!?" he yelled as he looked down at the blonde who was in shock at the usually calm green haired coordinators outburst.

"I'm glad I left zaft…the earth alliance may be infested with blue cosmos fanatics…but zafts just as bad apparently…and to think I knew you…"he said before walking away while Dearka was pulled to his feet. "And before you ask or think I'm a true traitor…check the uniform. I'm…I lead celestial being now. I won't be on this ship much longer so if you somehow make it back be sure to get your report right…"he called back to him. It was obvious elsman had done something to severely upset his friend…well…former friend.

Truth be told he had wanted to try and turn him back to zaft, get him to help him to the buster, he gets in the blitz's remains then they sink this ship and either get back to base or get shot down as heroes of zaft.

Looks like that plan is out the window….

_World tournament part one_

Noah groaned as he performed a spiral in the air. Behind him was the mega sized enemy. For the moment he was the only one challenging it and his plan required him to have people to use a distraction.

Unlike the seventh world championship where the mega sized enemy was an AI controlled zaku 2…this was an AI controlled RX-78-2 gundam. Still its arsenal was as simple as the zaku, easy to counter as it was not equipped with its full array of weaponry…

But as a beam flew past him that was the same size as his gunpla he could only quickly shift up and into a climb to avoid more. Every now and then he took a pot shot at it but he wasn't hitting it too heavily, especially since it had "spawned" in the desert once again.

Once more he spun around to try and fire one more pot shot from the gundam but instead found himself staring at a beam ready to end his time here early, his GN field wouldn't hold against it just due to the sheer size.

Instead he was saved as another, somewhat familiar looking gunpla flew up in front of him…

It was a custom impulse gundam, but the way it countered the beam was practically a signature of its predecessor and Noah knew right away who had saved him.

The impulse before him was a custom machine which raised its shield and made it expand to its full size only for the black under armor of the shield to absorb the massive beam. The shield collapsed once the beam was stored and it raised its custom rifle, a remake of the build strike full packages large white rifle with some new tricks to it.

The impulse gundam was painted in a new paint job more similar to the RX-78-2 that they were fighting. It shared a lot of similarities to the build strike, including the angled shoulders which held new and extra thrusters, custom side skirt armor with beam saber emplacements, four CIWS barrels on its head plus the two in its chest.

On its legs were extra armor sections similar to the star build strike with clear pieces, the custom force silhouette on its back also had some clear pieces on it but those were lit up…Noah wondered what that meant…

As usual aside from these and a few other visual differences the force impulse gundam looked similar in build to its original version, therefore Noah knew it meant its main upgrades were in its new rifle, shield, those clear parts, and the inner workings of the model.

"Sorry we're late…we had to deal with our own enemies where we launched!" called out sei over an open channel as a moment later a massive blue beam filled the sky and hit the gundam.

Noah turned to see an odd gundam but again he knew exactly who made it by key features. The large skull on its chest gave it away as the mouth closed and steam vented between the teeth while the solar panels of its double x's twin satellite cannons folded up as well. A cloak flapped around its arms and Noah smiled. Mao was here...the two finger entrance/victory pose gave that away

As the sky went back to its normal color and the gundam reeled from the powerful hit it quickly was hit from the other side from another large beam blast, its torso beginning to glow with heat. Noah took a glance past it and saw Ricardo's wing gundam fence reniscita in its usual posed entrance stance. He smirked. Of course he was here.

Now where was the meijin? Was he not taking part in the event? No matter Noah quickly moved away from their location as the gundam seemed to get angry and began to focus on him, sei and Mao, the three scattering and beginning to hit it with pot shots while they prepared another volley from their heavy weapons, well sei prepared his new heavy weapon.

Noah meanwhile had his plan but he needed to get into position first and had to hope that his new "hyper mirror" system worked. He quickly got to work setting up a data packet to send the three world champion fighters with his plan in it.

Once that was done he sent it off and dodged another beam. The presence of more fighters seemed to have irritated the gundam as it began firing more erratically. He was quickly contacted by all three fighters but sei beat them all to the punch in terms of asking, "What is this you sent? Targeting data?" asked sei as he looked it over.

This was a popular tactic amongst fanfiction writers for heero and his zero system capable suits along with various gundam animes had pilots do this. Hell in gundam seed Tolle did it for Kira. Maybe he shouldn't have dismissed Noah's claims so quickly behind his back as a sign of his introvert personality and obsession with gundam which rivaled sei's getting to him.

No one had ever thought of doing this especially during a survival match like this. It had specific times and positions for them to fire from, especially now as other fighters joined in, each trying to be the one to bring down the gundam.

"you know what it is, I can see it in your eyes, just get to those spots and try to be ready to fire your strongest shots on my mark." stated Noah as he flew off to the around the gundam. What he had planned would give away likely his biggest advantage in this tournament…but at the same time now was the best time to test it.

He watched as everyone flew to their area he needed them in, sei just flying in circles of sorts around the gundam, taking pot shots now and then at it. Fellini flew down below it and began weaving around its legs to avoid being stepped on.

Mao meanwhile hovered above it, his cannons already charging as he would take the longest to set up his sho.t

"Ok…here goes nothing!" he called out as he dropped both his GN sword rifles and drew both GN buster sword 2's. He positioned himself in front of the gundam, not disguising his plan one bit…well…sort of. He raised one arm and took aim with its GN buster sword 2.

Once more the ports on his hidden, third GN drive closed and the barrel soon let the massive crimson blast rip out of the barrel. As it raced towards the mega sized gundam he lowered the barrel and brought up his second rifle while 7 red flashes flew past him.

As the gundam raised its shield, the AI seemingly wise to Noah's plan a clear crimson barrier, a GN field blocked the beams path to the shield. But instead of just blocking it the beam traveled into the field, formed by Noah's 7 sword bits.

Like when the 00[t] traveled to the ELS' home world the swords followed the beam into the field and it disappeared.

Noah smirked at the fact it seemed to work…his hyper mirror system worked. With that he lined up his next shot and the barrel glowed as the ports on his two shoulder drives closed but his third drive opened and began spinning up, causing him to lose some altitude but he quickly recovered.

Similar to sei's discharge system. Noah's new "hyper discharge" system literally was a discharge of particles in the truest meaning of the word. Unlike sei's complicated plavsky particle based system that included the absorb shield, Noah's simply was a system that allowed his "trinity drive" to release its GN particles to its full potential and eliminate any charging times for shots like this. It also would assist his "GN EMP" system when he reached the cosmic era, which was an EMP version of the quantum burst mode.

But it had an extra feature…

Everyone, even the mega sized AI seemed to stop when nothing hit the giant shield. Noah smiled and was practically jumping with joy. His first GN/plavsky particle based ability/ weapon since watching sei let loose his discharge system back during the 7th world championship worked!

"Ok guys, let 'em rip!" he shouted and the three world championship fighters instantly knew what he meant. A moment later a massive blue beam raced towards the gundam once more from above as Mao combined his three satellite cannon blasts.

From below Fellini let loose a blast from his improved buster rifle which quickly enveloped the gundams legs though once the firing portion was done he moved away from Mao's shot.

Sei meanwhile began firing on the gundams head, clearly not exactly wanting to add to the heavy hitters even though he also hadn't be asked to do that by Noah's firing plan.

Meanwhile Noah let loose a blast from his second GN buster sword 2. Confused and overheated from so much heavy beam fire the gundam couldn't move, its shield falling to its side as it couldn't decide who was the bigger target and it began to freeze up in its programming. Noah's blast hit it square in the chest and the gundam seemed done for as its entire body glowed a bright orange…but in a testament of will for the AI to win it continued to move, deciding Noah was its target so it raised its rifle to fire on him as he hovered in front of it

Noah didn't move as with the gundam still glowing, ready for one last shot Noah knew that shot was coming…

_World tournament part one_

Cagalli wiped away her tears as she stepped out onto her deck outside her room. She had finally finished crying over knowing Noah and Kira were now dead. She'd never see them again…and with their outlook on the war gone…the world was doomed to repeat what caused all this in the first place…she just knew without them orb would soon see the horrors of war and it made her feel even worse.

With a gasp she jumped when the sound of something akin to a thunder clap accompanied multiple bright red flashes shooting over her head high in the sky. She looked up just in time to see six glowing red objects form a ring just over the main city of orb. Worried it was some new weapon from the E.A. or zaft she got ready to run and warn her father but instead she noticed the red particles coming off the objects and gasped.

GN particles!

Shortly after she saw an angry crimson beam fly over her home and slam into a particle field the GN powered objects formed. Just before it did she could have sworn she saw a giant mobile suit through the clear red veil. But as the beam came in contact with it seemed to swallow and absorb the beam, following it into the veil once it had taken in all that red energy.

Once the sky returned to its normal color cagalli only blinked, her mouth wide open as she tried to figure out what had just happened she heard sirens fill the air and guards rush to ensure her safety. That blast had been similar enough to the strikes Agni-cannon that she figured the city would go into a lock down till they confirmed it was all over.

As the guards came to her deck she turned and smiled, just walking past them quietly. They were all confused. "Princess! Are you ok?" they asked, concerned the fiery red head wasn't yelling for a gun and crying out to be allowed to go fight whoever may be invading.

She stopped and smiled even as a tear ran down her cheek. "He's alive…I have no idea how or where he is….but Noah Carson is alive…I can feel it."She said, practically jumping for joy as she turned back around. "Orb just became a hundred times safer…he wouldn't let us or the archangel down…"she thought as she went to go get a snack…maybe an apple? She wasn't that hungry…

_World tournament part one_

Noah smiled as the gundams rifle barrel glowed with the shot that could end him. By now a lot of smaller countries fighters and many of the fighters left had shown up and were trying to get that final shot. But most of them were using custom grunt suits, the ones with the firepower to actually make that shot were all fighting each other nearby. Except the 7th world championship fighters, they were all wondering where Noah's sanity went…till the gundam suddenly had its back covered in an angry crimson beam blast.

Any fighting stopped as with a flash that caught everyone's attention the seven sword bit's that Noah sent off with his first blast showed up out of a dark red GN field that quickly became clear. Shortly afterwards the field expanded to allow his shot to come through, the red beam coming back with a vengeance as it hit the grandfather of gundams.

The glow of its barrel quickly died and everyone backed off, the mega sized model beginning to expand with the heat till finally it exploded.

While most fighters shielded their eyes and blocked the strong winds with their gundams Noah took advantage of their defensive stances and entered trans-am, moving quickly as he used his targeting program to map out who all was there, what machines they were in and what their weaknesses were.

He then pulled off an array of shots only a professional…well…no…what a damn gundam pilot could pull off. In the time it took for the light to die down he dimmed his screen to not be blinded by the light, targeted the grunt and low grade suits that would be easy pray for the sniper rounds his buster sword two's put out and began sniping targets from above.

By the time anyone really knew what happened the holographic screen shot up in the sky and the announcer AI called out "battle ended!"

As the plavsky particles fell it was announced that they had come down to the necessary amount of fighters for the match to end it and that Noah had received an extra 2 points for landing the final blow on mega sized enemy as the person who did so got every year. All it would take now was perfect scores for the next few matches and he'd have enough points to guarantee a spot in the finals.

He looked around him though as everyone seemed to look to him.

He blinked…

"What? Do I have something on my face? "he asked knowing exactly why he had so many glares, looks of astonishment, and looks of people who now seeked to beat him just to say they could championship or not. So he had the biggest grin on his face. He broke all laws of plavsky physics with that move…helped when you found a way to make plavsky particles and GN particles mix to open gateways to other worlds…your arena suddenly became a whole lot bigger.

He collected his gundam and walked away from the arena quietly, no one following him particularly but those leaving in the same exit hall clearly tried to look at his model as he looked it over, trying to figure out how he did that.

They would all learn if he won. This tournament meant everything to him. If he won…this gundam would be strong enough to save her. If not he would have to wait a whole 'nother year plus build a new machine based on a new strategy to try.

With the battle over though he hadn't paid attention to the group that was watching him though. A new breed of thief and hustler was arising and they reared their ugly heads around the time of the world championship, looking for fighters just like Noah…but usually with skills more like the poor boy Noah demolished in the ravine but with Noah's building skills. Basically fighters who got here by pure luck with poor control skills but amazing machines.

They quickly looked at each other and nodded to their newest member, a young girl who they then nodded towards Noah. "Get his gunpla." They commanded and she nodded, walking off to follow Noah.

She had no idea what her new "employers" were getting her into….or what she'd experience afterwards….

**World tournament part one**

**Ok…so…I don't know…I feel it was halfway between rushed and sheer fucking brilliance. That "hyper discharge" system I came up with the name on the spot but in all honesty it's not as OP as it sounds. It literally is its most OP in the fact that it can essentially hide a full power buster rifle blast and re-launch it at any given angle at any given time. Otherwise it's just a fancy way of saying "I can unleash hell on you faster than you can pull your trigger, let the round leave the barrel and cycle the next shot in." it also improves Noah's agility due to being able to fuel a rapid climb or dive or force more particles out for him to be able to do whatever he needs faster at the expense of dipping into one of three "GN wells" which are the condenser tanks hidden beneath full power GN drives.**

**Look it up, it makes sense if you really think about it.**

**Anyways btw the girl at the end isn't some real world Nina counterpart or anything, she is just a new character I came up with on the spot for some drama, but thinking of making her permanent. **

**Also I shall give a better description and load out of sei's new "impulse build gundam" and Mao's "double cross X gundam" otherwise Fellini is in his reniscita as usual just some upgrades to parts in the way of metal parts, the flash etch or whatever parts, ya know just little improvements. And the meijin is using his amazing red warrior though he was off watching them all fight, mainly to watch how Noah would do as his machine is the most plain out of all of them…to a normal build fighter what does that day? Anything special is hidden within!**

**ANYWAYS lol not sure what else to put because maybe it will prompt you people TO REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**

**I HAVE SO MANY PEOPLE READ THIS STORY BUT ONLY TWO LOYAL REVIEWERS…AND EVEN THEN YOU GUYS MAINLY PUT AWESOME COMMENTS…thanks btw it helps keep me going strong BUT I NEED MORE INFO ON WHAT I`M MISSING, I KNOW I HAVE GRAMMAR ERRORS I WRITE THESE AT 2 AM DUE TO WORK AND GAMES FOR FUCKS SAKE!**

**But I get no feedback anymore on plot, character building, and gundam designs…no more ideas to inspire me! My music has to do that…btw I'm listening to **_**nightcore- this little girl**_** while I write tonight and it has nothing to do with any scene in this chapter but it will in the next chapter…gave me a great idea for some non-MS combat.**

**And yes I know one guy I said was getting annoying giving me ideas for random gundams…I mean gundam designs as in am I forgetting anything during fights for the blitz, or am I under using something a pilot normally spams like Kira's beams when he gets his freedom gundam, or could I make anything better or add any neat trick or gimmick to EX-caliber or now the Gabriel gundam.**

**Anyways I'm ranting cause I'm feeling uninspired to continue this for the moment plus no one reviewed the basis of my shinn side story, "tempering a blazing soul" with even a "good idea, keep writing" reviews keep me going folks, otherwise I get bored and lose faith in myself. Seriously…even flames are ok at this point though if I have previously made a note of don't comment on it…this is gundam, not reality, so don't confine me to real logic . people did that enough on Gaia online…**

**ANYWAYS…read and REVIEW…hope you enjoyed, the usual stuffs**


	15. world tournament part 2

Alice bit her lip as she watched her target. He was in a hobby shop with a kid he had beaten in the survival match of the world tournament, he personally accountable for the kid losing his gunpla.

The boy was around 10-12 years old and from somewhere in the former Soviet Union area of the world if his parents accents were anything to go by. She sat a few tables down at the large shops gunpla building area.

The new gunpla hustler looked down at the model she was GIVEN to use for her skill setting match. It was a well-built arios gundam with a custom blue paint job but otherwise it was a straight build.

In the gunpla case on her belt sat her own personal gunpla, one she lost with in her qualifier but it was only by a small margin. She timed out with her gunpla in worse shape than his but she had out maneuvered him and was about to deal the finishing blow when time ran out.

Her skill in that final match had been what got them interested in her…that and the debts she owed after her parents passed in a car crash.

This guy's gunpla though…it seemed like it may be valuable enough to them to get them to pay everything like they promised then let her go.

She continued to watch him with the child and listened, waiting for the perfect time to jump in. the model they were working on…well it was a kit bash, and she had heard him saying he'd teach the kid to make custom models.

World tournament part 2

1 hour earlier…

Noah had found the boy whose gundam ground type he had atomized with his GN buster sword 2's first time firing his "genesis beam" which he named based on its appearance along with the fact it was the first step in his combo that usually would end with his opponents destruction.

His parents had given him permission to watch over their son as he helped him rebuild the model, especially after they had originally been against it, explaining they were from a poor village and their son was only here because he had worked hard, earned the money for his model and his tools, built it to the best of his ability, and Noah was surprised that he had worked, gone to school AND managed to win what few battles he had for his small blocks qualifiers without buying spare models for spare parts, instead saving his money to pay for a trip here and for his parents to come and cheer him on.

His final match he had gotten lucky. His weapon pack was busted so he had lost his 180 mm cannon, he only had his right arm and his head was partially destroyed. The only thing truly intact about his model was the torso.

He had entered his match in this state against someone using a custom guntank, a new origin version customized for use in their home country which was damn near an artic situation…and the match was instead on a tropical island. So the guntank had a difficult time with all the foliage which he used to his advantage.

Closing the distance he got out his beam saber and with one strike stabbed the model in the back, ending the match and making it to the world tournament. When he won his parents revealed they had bought him a replacement model as a surprise so win or lose he'd be able to repair the model or just replace it outright for next year or for fighting here.

Suffice to say with their thick accents Noah had finally just explained it would all be on his dime, they wouldn't have to repay him in any way. After all he felt bad for obliterating his model. While most fighters could retrieve remains of their model the boy had found a few scraps but otherwise Noah's beam had been thorough even for a gunpla battle.

Walking amongst the gunpla isles Noah saw the boys eyes dart from model to model. He told the boy he could pick whatever model he wanted as a base and they would build him a custom suit based on his fighting style.

Finally Noah stopped and turned to the boy. "So…any idea what you wanna use as a base model?" asked Noah. The boy looked around and looked down sad. He did not want to make Noah spend too much on him but at the same time because he had so many options was not sure which one to pick.

"I'm not sure sir…I…I have not had such…freedom with money before." He said, even the boys accent thick.

Noah nodded. "Ok. Well tell me this…what would you want you dream gunpla to specialize in? Defense? Offense? Speed? What would you want it to be?" he asked, crouching down to the boy's level.

The boy smiled. "I would want it to have lots of guns, lots of big guns like heavy arms!" he shouted happily and Noah chuckled.

"Ok…so a support unit again, something that can dish out as much as it can take. I like it. Ok…well…"said Noah as he began looking around. With his skill he could see so much potential for such a unit…but he wanted to keep it simple for the boy, likely a custom straight build…a kit bash with maybe a custom paint job…

Finally Noah grabbed another gundam ground type high grade then a heavy arms custom. After looking through the selection he grabbed a few customize parts packs and a HG jesta and an EZ-8. It was a small selection but he had a plan formulated, especially as he picked up on a certain girl following him.

Leading the boy to the counter he also grabbed two full basic tool sets, clippers, files, sanding paper…the works to a kid like him but to Noah it was the basics. After paying for it all they went to the model building area and Noah set the tool kit and the gundam ground type in front of him as well as the EZ-8. He knew both models well so he knew where to start for such a kit bash.

"Ok here's what I want you to do, I want you to build those as fast as possible. Doesn't have to be perfect but I want to see what you can do in…" Noah looked to the nearby clock. The hobby shop he found for them was the first 24/7 hobby shop and it specialized in all things gunpla. It was only open during the tournament 24/7 though and that was because two years back someone realized that builders got ideas at all hours of the day and needed spare parts after matches but maybe wanted to eat first and couldn't get to normal shops in time. So this store was opened.

"You have 2 hours to build both of those as best you can. Build one fully, build both in segments, whatever. I just wanna see how you work. In the meantime I'm gonna build this heavy arms and start working on the core of your build ok?"he asked and the boy nodded, rapidly opening the EZ-8, clearly more excited to build it then the kit he had lost in the tournament to Noah

This made Noah smile and as he began to take his time building the heavy arms custom he noticed the boy taking his time, even if Noah said as fast as possible he was taking his time, making it a straight build but still focusing on making each piece look as nice as possible. Hell he stopped and panel lined each part as he built it.

Every now and then as Noah was building he'd get up and go buy something else, such as he got up and bought the old crappy little HG heavy arms. But the boy had looked up and saw Noah use the old heavy arms…which to the boys both dismay as to his own skill but to also his amazement Noah built the old old kit in 5 minutes and it was practically to perfection…but it was still a straight build.

He then watched Noah convert the newer heavy arms custom's guns into a similar arm mounting shield style to the heavy arms kai. Once the weapon was essentially converted he set it aside before continuing to build the heavy arms.

Current time…

The boy looked up as he clipped the EZ-8 model together and looked to Noah who was delicately using a pin vise to drill out the heavy arms custom's chest chain gun barrels before inserting small metal parts that were supposed to be for head CIWS.

His jaw dropped though when he saw a half built kampfer, a gouf custom with its body in various states of assembly, plus the jesta and heavy arms custom otherwise fully assembled, panel lined…they looked like a master had built them.

He stayed quiet so he could watch, not even opening his gundam ground type…looking at everything Noah was doing he felt it was almost ok to just take it home and rebuild his model…after all they had enough models now to certainly build something cool.

Just as he was about to ask Noah how he got so good a girl walked up to him and the boy waited to see what she said as Noah put the almost completely upgraded heavy arms torso down.

World tournament part 2

Alice had watched Noah and the kid build for another hour and a half now, the first half hour of their time there Noah had been buying the kid all sorts of stuff.

She watched as Noah built his kits in a flash but took forever to start building. He looked at the instructions, looked at the riggings, looked at the instructions…she was trying to learn his building process to improve her own but she wanted to shout at him to build already. In the time it took him to do that and go buy an old heavy arms model the kid had built the torso of his EZ-8 as best he could, going against Noah's demand of building as fast as possible.

Once Noah got building the kit bash kits he was also converting certain pieces, getting up and buying more kits, more detail parts….by the time the kid had his gunpla built though and fully panel lined even Noah had 3 kits mid assembly, a full HG jesta with bare minimum detailing and a fully heavy arms custom which he was detailing with metal parts.

Finally she couldn't wait anymore. She didn't have long to get ahold of that red and black gunpla.

She got up and walked over, tapping Noah on the shoulder to get his attention. He set everything down with care and looked up. "Can I help you?" he asked kindly. What he was doing for this kid, the money he was pouring into helping this kid and even helping him build….she was only 15 and it melted her heart…but she had to do this if she was to get her own life on track.

"Hi um…I couldn't help but notice how detailed your builds are and I was hoping you could take a look at my model…see what I could do to improve it." She stated as she pulled the arios out of her pocket carefully and held it out for him.

Noah smirked and took it looking it over. "Well I'm not the meijin or sei Lori so don't ask me like I'm famous…but…" Noah seemed intrigued by the model, transforming it carefully and returning it to its mobile armor form she had handed it to him in. he handed it back to her and shrugged.

"That…actually is really well built. I mean it's not gonna win you any designer contests but it looks like it would be great for a gunpla battle. Would react well, looks well-tuned too. If you really wanna make it look nice and perform better I'd suggest metal parts and detail parts though for a 00 machine those are hard to pick up due to the GN drive it's powered by." He said as he continued his work, inserting one of the final barrels before beginning to drill out another on the gunpla torso.

Alice bit her lip and wanted to show him her other model but stopped herself, after watching him fight it was high praise even if he wasn't either of the people he mentioned. "Well…speaking of gunpla battle do you think we could maybe play? Right now? I have to go soon to an event outside the city and I would love some battle tips before I go." she said as she hoped he grabbed the bait.

The young man looked between his pieces and the young boys and then back to her. "Sure…it`ll be a good test for this one." he said as he looked back to all the parts and began assembling the model. In truth the machine was clearly half built, with the legs and head of the EZ-8, the jesta's backpack, side skirt armor with the grenades and beam saber, then the heavy arms torso, arms, shoulders, and waist again with the jesta's side skirts. He then revealed his plan for the converted weapon. On the left arm he mounted the chain gun of the gouf custom he built, then the right he slid into the converted heavy arms dual shield mounted chain guns.

In truth…the model was packing heavy firepower and would have good armor…but would be slow and bulky…she bit her lip. If he was using that model she could blow the plan by faking her own skill level too low just so he'd beat her.

With that Noah stood up and motioned for her to follow him. They went into one of the shops three gunpla battle rooms and Noah quickly updated his GP-base with the new models info. A moment later Alice found herself in the haptic cockpit of the battle arena and took a deep breath. She hoped the field would give him the advantage…then it would be easier to let him win….not that she likely would need to do that.

She set her arios gundam on her GP base and listened to the announcer announce…no way…

"Damage level a?" she whispered with her eyes wide. The world tournament competitor was that confident he'd win without a scratch? Or did he have that much money to throw away? Either way she needed to lose somehow with as little damage to her borrowed model as possible or else she'd be owing these people more money.

Finally she was told that the battle had started and she took one last deep breath.

"Alice rose, arios gundam…LAUNCHING!" she exclaimed before her gunpla rocketed into the map. It quickly transformed and landed. Her concerns about having the advantage were put to rest when she realized what map they were on. It was a ravine…perfect…all she had to do was "accidentally" end up trapped in front of him and she'd get lit up like a Christmas tree.

She walked along the top of the ravine and looked around, waiting for him, acting like she wasn't sure what to do…

She found him when out of the ravine a group of homing missiles shot up and flew at her. She raised her shield just as her alarm began to blare and screamed as her model was hit, the painted and well detailed rockets being superior in quality to her arios and so as the smoke cleared she found her left arm was gone since she hadn't moved and took all the missiles on her shield and arm.

Biting her lip she decided a quick loss was better than prolonging it. After all she was a blonde and could just act ditzy.

With a battle cry shouted out she jumped into the ravine, using her GN drive to allow for a soft landing but acting like the idiot she was she landed with her back to him and raised her gun, blinking. "wait…where'd he go?" she asked innocently before turning around and squeaking in surprise as she found herself staring down the full arsenal of…she looked to her monitor to try and find its name…

The gundam breaker…that's what he named it? Dear lord she hoped his tournament model had a better name. A second later she saw the chain guns spin up…

World tournament part 2

Noah sighed as the haptic cockpit of the gunpla arena faded away and he looked to the arena. Here was the kid's new gunpla standing there in mint condition…maybe some scuffs on the feet from Noah's landing…and her arios in pieces after he lit it up with everything he had.

The girl was biting her lip and seemed nervous and worried. He sighed. "look…if it means that much I'm sorry I thought you could handle this model…in all honesty I was curious how long it'd take your model to trash this one…sorry…"he said, reaching back to rub the back of his head and looked down.

"It's ok…"she said and Noah looked up, determination in her eyes. "You're clearly an amazing fighter…think we can go again? I have another model…but…maybe we can raise the stakes since you did cheat me by setting it to damage level a?" she asked and Noah was instantly sure she was exactly what he thought she was when she reached behind her and brought out a custom exia/cross bone gundam cross. It was an exia base with a skull on its chest and forehead. He saw that its sword and shield system had been replaced with a custom murasama blaster. He also noted it had a GN short sword kai which likely had its own customization too it.

He smirked at her and shrugged.

"Sure…what's these extra stakes?" he asked, even if he knew what she was going to request. Another term for fighters like her were scavengers. They took fighters usually like the kid he was helping, fought at damage level a, beat them, but beforehand they had hustled them by losing to seem weak, then pulled out a machine like this, offered a second round with the tempting stakes of whoever loses got the remains of the other persons gunpla.

He never expected to be a target but then again his gunpla wasn't just a gunpla…but no one knew that hidden meaning behind it being a master grade base.

Hers was a master grade as well and he had to admit he liked the cloth cloak it wore.

"We fight again at damage level a, but whoever wins gets to keep what's left of the losers model as a trophy." she said with an innocent smile. She had no idea the hustler was being hustled.

Noah smirked. "You sure about that? I mean that looks like a really well built model. I`d hate to break it just for you to lose it as well. "He said, acting cocky so she'd think she had him.

She nodded. "Yes I'm sure…so…yes or no?" she asked and Noah answered by pulling out his Gabriel gundam. "Fine…but I'm not holding back this time model wise." he stated and she nodded, acting like a determined rookie. "Same here..."she said as they cleared the arena and got ready for battle once more.

A moment later his new haptic cockpit surrounded him and he rolled his neck. In a moment…she'd learn she was trying to scavenge off someone who was so far out of their league that even with her model the way it was…she may as well be fighting with that old heavy arms model he built. Time to test function 2 of his hyper discharge system…a system he had named the "quantum leap" system.

As the arena was prepared for their fight he quickly brought up his OS and began running a link to the zero system back at his home. Each battle arena was linked to the net to update stats on fighters, to allow people to remotely watch random fights online, just various features. He took advantage of this with his hyper discharge system by connecting to the zero system and running his new program that allowed him to access his simulation.

"Nothing ventured…nothing gained…"he stated before Gabriel was thrown into the arena. The field made his plan easy. It was space...open space and he could see her green GN particle trail. Once he was locked onto her position he activated his trans-am and rushed towards her, his six GN sword bits quickly flying ahead of him. When she saw his sword bits past she began to go into a defensive stance, bringing her murasama blaster up as a sword with the intent to block any attack he may be launching. Instead he let go of his GN sword rifles and used one hand to shove the blaster out of the way and the other grabbed her gunplas head, using his trans-am to rocket through the portal his sword bits had made behind her…

World tournament part 2

Alice was surprised at how aggressive Noah was. Shen she saw him flooring it towards her she had thought to move and try to dodge but then she caught sight of his sword bits and instead decided staying still may be best so she brought her large blaster up to block any of his attacks as his gundam was as CQB oriented as hers, part of what she was counting on to win this.

Instead she yelped in surprise as he dropped his weapons, shoved hers aside and before she could react he grabbed her head and kept on going till her monitors all turned black.

"What?! What the hell is this!?" she shouted before she screamed when her control orbs shook as her monitors came back online and she found her gunpla sliding along the ground till it stopped when it hit something. She had closed her eyes when she felt the orbs shake and slowly opened them…till she saw her monitors and they shot open.

In front of her was the Gabriel gundam gently touching down on the ground…behind it was a forest, and around them was a rocky beach….wait…forest? Beach? And…she could hear the ocean.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!? FIELD CHANGES ARE NOT ALLOWED YOU CHEAT!" she shouted.

"I didn't cheat and I didn't change the field…hell feel free to stop out of your cockpit…I won't do anything. Your relying too much on your monitors." He stated.

Watching his gunpla closely she watched the head move around, as if he was looking at someplace with nostalgia. Slowly she stepped out of the holographic cockpit and looked to the arena. She gasped…he was right…the arena was still in space and the computer had a status screen up. "System error. Gunpla missing…"it then listed her exia type x and his Gabriel gundam.

She stepped back in her cockpit and looked at her monitors…it was completely different…

"What did you do to my model?" she asked, suddenly worried all that hard work was gone…that he somehow stole it.

"I brought you to my reason for needing to win this year at the tournament and my reason for needing this gunpla. I know your plan, I know what you do…and I hate it. So I thought I'd show you how outclassed you are." he stated.

This was impossible. Was he saying he had removed the models from the arena all together? "But…what did you do? Where are we? Are we in some other arena somewhere else?" she asked as she looked around and her model stood up. She tensed when he moved towards something…it was metal and grey…and…she put her hand over her mouth as she saw the wreckage he was standing by.

He knelt down and picked part of it up before turning to her. "Does this look like a gunpla? And even if it were when did gunpla arenas begin littering the field with randomly destroyed models aside from the one year war arena?" he asked as he took a step towards her and she couldn't believe her eyes.

What he held in his hand…was the head of the aegis. And not some models head that would have maybe a torn PC rubber part underneath. No…this head had wires and a cracked main camera lens and…she fell to her knees.

This wasn't possible…this…it had to be fake. It had to be simulated…somehow he had brought her to an arena with simulated destruction from the aegis vs strike fight.

She slowly stood back up, tears in her eyes. She glanced down and noticed a beam saber handle. It was one from the strikes aile pack. Reaching down with her gunpla she picked it up and brought it up to her own main monitor.

It…it was real…but how? She turned it over in her hand. There were none of the usual signs of this being a custom made metal weapon piece or even of it being a model piece. It was a real beam saber!

"due to a failed…well sort of failed test in a new simulator program I was designing I found out GN particles and plavsky particles don't mix too well when you design a system that scans in a gundam instead of using the model and produces true GN particles. What happened was I broke the fourth wall…I came here. I met Kira, I met captain Ramius, I fought actual, mobile suits and when the very system I made to do this evolved and became sentient it tried to eliminate me…I would have thought all this a silly dream and that I had been in a coma…still am in a coma if it weren't for her." He said and chuckled. What he was gonna say next would likely freak the young girl out.

"Either this really is a break in the fourth wall…or else I imagined some damn good wine and felt every moment of making love to the same woman who would end up shooting me down in such detail I probably needed one of the nurses to change my pants…"he said with a smirk. Over the open speakers from her gundam he could hear her gagging at the image he just put in her head.

"So you tell me…you still wanna fight me? Try to scavenge my model? Or do you wanna sit down with a burger and a coke or whatever you want and you wanna explain why someone like yourself is doing this?" he asked as he dropped the busted aegis head which fell to the ground with a crash, dust from the ground flying up around it.

He got his answer when she drew her GN short sword kai and swung it at him…from a distance…only for him to be reminded its tip could shoot off. He side stepped the interestingly made bone shaped heat whip within and drew his two GN swords at his hips.

"I choose to do both…and let you decide what to do!" she shouted before her exia lunged at him and the fight began in earnest which made Noah smile as he began to fight in what he hoped to eventually be his home universe.

World tournament part 2

Nina sighed as she tried to drain the last drop of wine from the bottle. When nothing hit her tongue she looked up inside. "Damn…another one gone." she said before dropping the empty wine bottle on the floor before falling back onto her bed.

After Heine shot down her lover she found out in his report he included her hesitance and the fact she broke down when Noah was killed. She was then forced to come out and inform them she had had a chance to kill him or even capture him and had instead drank wine with him, made love to him, and all around did nothing to help her homeland.

Her paladin was put in storage to eventually be upgraded after spitbreak and given to a new pilot. She was benched pending investigation and so she began looking at the bottom of a few various types of alcohol bottles.

At the moment she was riding a fine line between destroying her liver and dying and letting depression take her and having her do the deed herself. As she fell back onto her bed she sighed and curled up, and turned to look towards her bedroom door.

Her eyes were glazed over and she was wanting death to take her, to end her pain…instead as she closed her eyes she was surprised when she heard him…she heard Noah! Her eyes shot open and she looked to her door. Not realizing it was a hallucination she smiled, seeing Noah walking through her door with a breakfast in bed tray and her favorite meal on it.

"Hey Nina…I figured you were sleeping in. it's a beautiful day out there…maybe we should go to the park? Enjoy some of that artificial sunlight." Said Noah which made her giggle.

"Yeah I know it's a beautiful day…it's almost always sunny and beautiful here silly." she said with a smile as she watched "Noah" set the tray down.

He then sat down next to her and reached towards her, oddly with hesitance and she blinked, still enjoying it though when he began to straighten her hair.

"Hey…I know we just got together Noah…but I was thinking…maybe we should get a place here together? I mean my apartments nice…"she said, sitting up and grabbing his hand, forcing him to cup her cheek, not noticing it was larger than his and had rougher, darker toned skin.

"But eventually, after the war, I was thinking…maybe…maybe we could have a kid or two? Get a nice little house here…o-or even on earth if you prefer. Of course…"she said, looking down at her stomach. "It is a bit difficult for a coordinator to conceive naturally...especially with a natural…but we can try right?" said Nina, her mood dipping for a moment but she perked back up.

"Nina…I need you to wake up…snap out of this funk you're in…"said Noah with a concerned look on his face. What was he talking about? A minute ago he was talking about going to the park? What funk was she in? He was here! He was alive!

"Nina…I'm alive and I'm out there…I need you to get out of your funk and come find me. You want this life with me, awesome…I'd love it…but first you have to wake up and come find me….find EX-caliber. It will show you the way…"said "Noah" before he got up and left, pointing to the tray of food. "and for god's sake woman eat something….do you even recognize me or is that starvation induced hallucination really that strong?" asked Noah…but he sounded different. With his talk of being alive and waking up the illusion slowly vanished. In his place was commander waltfeld. Wait? What? "C-commander…what are you…!?" she exclaimed as she blinked and was more confused than ever.

"Good it looks like you`ve come out of your hallucination. Look with zala's regime taking over I've been reaching out to a few people. I figured you were one of the people I could trust after everything that happened…but I've got bad news and I wanted to warn you. Zala is trying to crush any opposition. I`m sure he`ll send for you soon. Don't trust him or whoever he sends. I don't know what his end game is yet kid but he doesn't just want to bring this war to a quick end…I think Noah was right….anyways just eat up, wake up, and keep an eye out." Said waltfeld before leaving, closing her door.

So…it was all a hallucination? Noah…he was still? No! She wouldn't lose hope. Even if it was a hallucination it had to be a message from him somehow! Besides was it that much of a stretch for Noah to be alive if waltfeld somehow lived?

With a new desire to live Nina began to slowly eat her food, realizing her own malnourishment and she knowing she had to take it slow or she could make things worse for her. Now then…where to start her search?

World tournament part 2

Alice grunted as her exia hit the ground. Noah was stronger than she had expected...his gunpla was superior then hers in more ways than just how well it was made or its special abilities. No Noah's skill transcended that of a fighter…he was a true gundam pilot.

She had just finished explaining to him her life story as their swords clashed amongst the forest area of the island, in the sky above, even over the ocean though at certain points he seemed to force her back, as if running from something other than her. Occasionally shots were fired but for the most part it was a dance between 2 swordsmen.

She explained how her parents were poor and racked up massive debt trying to give her a decent life. Right as things had begun getting good for them…they were killed in a hit and run accident.

By then she had gotten into gunpla and was put in a group home. Any penny she made was put towards building the best gundam model possible, especially after gunpla battles were made possible. After watching the 7th world tournament on TV she was more inspired than ever to become an amazing fighter, thinking if she could become a famous fighter her life might get better. But she stalled out. She couldn't get better no matter how hard she tried. This year had been her first year reaching the finals of the qualifiers.

She had just finished explaining her final fight that caused her to lose all hope and be approached by the scavenging group as she forced her damaged gundam to stand up, her right arm cut off at the elbow and her murasama blaster lost into the deep blue sea that they had flown over. She watched Noah once again touch down on the ground gently. His machine was barely scratched…no…scratching it was all she had done. He was too aggressive and reacted too fast for her to do more than scratch his paint job.

"So…there's my life laid out for you. What are you gonna do now?" she asked, her eyes set in a glare as she looked the Gabriel gundam in the eyes.

Noah smiled in his cockpit. "Simple…I'll give you a way out." He said which caused her to blink.

"What do you mean…a way out?" she asked as she tried to think of what to do next. Whenever they landed like this he always waited for her to make the first move.

"Simple. You're too smart and too talented of a builder to be working for these no-skill no-bodies. I`m old enough I could pay off your debts and then adopt you. You`d have a home, access to some of the best modeling equipment in the world, and your skills would come in handy when I come back here hopefully after I win the world championship." He said as his gundam seemed to relax.

"You're too gifted and have too much potential to be wasting it trying to scavenge gunpla." He said and it almost made Alice tear up. "r-really….y-you think that?" she asked. No one had told her that since her father on her 7th birthday when she was offered a chance to skip grades in school due to her passing all her classes with flying colors in 2nd graded to the point she usually slept in class.

Noah nodded as did his gundam. "So…what do you say we head back, get your gunpla fixed, then discuss the details of all this?" he asked. Alice smiled and nodded. "Yes…yes please…"she said as she got ready to end the battle. Noah walked over and grabbed her gunplas hand with his before his sword bits shot out and formed another portal. A moment after they entered she could see they were back in the arena and in space.

She brought up the option to concede and pressed the button. As it ended she couldn't stop smiling as she collected her model. The arm and custom blaster were nowhere to be found but she wasn't expecting to find it. They had just been in the cosmic era after all.

"So…what do I call you?" she asked with a giggle and Noah rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Noah will do for now…but if you want dad, daddy, father…I don't know in all honesty never expected to have kids…like…ever…mainly cause I'm too absorbed in my work to date let alone think of something like adoption either. So call me whatever feels right, let's just get you gunpla fixed." He said, suddenly regretting not just taking her in the fight for all she was worth and leaving it at that.

He just had to be the nice guy.

World tournament part 2

Taylor locklen was sitting at his desk looking over the now confirmed plastic model that was supposedly the remains of EX-caliber. It was his job to carefully reconstruct the model as best he could. So with plastic welder, resin, and even some sheets of metal he had the main body repaired as best he could, the head was no longer crushed in but still it was nowhere near as perfect as he figured it had been before it began its campaign against zaft.

To the left of the model was a poorly repaired shield. If it even just sat as a model, a reminder for zaft that the horrors of this war could even come from small things like this he would be damned if it didn't have a shield.

On its right lay it's now fully repaired…well…fully was not the right word. The sword was replaced to its full scale and the system itself was working at a basic level but the sword was just a sheet of metal that was shaped like what he saw in pictures he was given of it and fit into the system to swing out and lock in place easily.

Right now he was putting the finishing touches on the GN drive.

It was amazing that the model was so intricately detailed. He had had to carefully strip away a lot of its armor to replace some of its inner workings, hell he had to custom make a new cockpit section as somehow that slot had been completely torn out leaving a hole in the torso. But it was now smoothed out and the torso had been filled with his custom cockpit based on the design of a GINN. Crude detailing inside but then again he was a technical engineer that did plastic modeling of old cars and planes in his free time…not mobile suits.

Still he was honored to be the one restoring the model, not noticing the past half hour that with each piece he repaired the model sparked, once blue, another green…and he obviously had no idea that the zero system had awoken on its own, it's original "host" machine, the one who allowed it to become the mystery workings of fate for this universe being repaired and bringing its attention back to the universe while Noah accessed it's basic functions to travel here.

He was still unaware to what he was doing even as he clipped the repaired shield into left arm, then its sword and shield system in its right.

Lastly he picked up the repaired GN drive and looked it over, making sure it was as best as he could make it. Finally he reached around and opened the three prongs that would hold it in place. Gently placing it in the socket he blinked as he could have sworn he felt it vibrate from the drive as if it was trying to spin up…

He then put one prong in place and he felt that vibration again…

Another prong and the vibration got stronger.

When he put the third prong in place the model visibly shook and as he stood up and stepped back he watched as the whole body and head straightened, the model glowing before it seemed to fade and flow down to its feet like it was being scanned by something.

The moment that happened its eyes lit up and he was surprised to hear something quite odd…

"Combat mode start up! Damage level se-se-se…" after that the machine had a few sparks fly across it before it slowly broke down into thousands of small blue and green particles.

Taylor had to dive away from his work station and was thankful he was in a hangar that had its gravity systems turned on as the model suddenly grew into a massive cloud of these particles before shifting to be beside the gangplank his desk had been on.

From there the particles slowly but surely formed the red and black machine.

As Taylor stood up his legs grew weak and he couldn't believe what he was seeing…he…he had rebuilt it…

**EX-CALIBER HAD RETURNED…**

**WORLD TOURNAMENT PART 2**

**SO…hope you all enjoyed reading that. I know the fights were short and crappy but in all honesty I hadn't meant to leave that last cliffhanger so I had to work with that to add some drama and prolong this story one more chapter. **

**Anyways I am curious has anyone else noticed I'm like…the only person still writing these stories? Even nemesis astrea has disappeared. Nothing wrong with that, we all get writers block and real life takes priority anyways lol I just thought I'd see what you all say.**

**So I'm gonna make this authors note short but I wanna say this now, Alice is not a super important character…now…she will be later but otherwise you can forget her for now. **

**And to clarify Nina's hallucination and EX-calibers reconstruction happen at the same time and are both brought on by Noah bringing his fight with Alice to the cosmic era. **

**Next chapter we get to see three big fights, Noah fighting a "mystery contestant", then the meijin, then sei…anyone with input on the build impulse please let me know but otherwise I'll explain it better later after the fight.**

**Also that whole song inspired non MS combat scene will be next chapter.**

**Anyways review please…until next time ^^**

**P.S. the exia/crossbone cross alice is using…is literally called that. The exia crossbone. Once again *Sigh* I did not make it but this time I got permission…kinda…there are 2 versions I have found that are damn near the same. If you look up the exia crossbone, literally like that, you`ll find one like what I described with a brown cloak…while it's late and I don't wanna fix the minor differences in the detailing, the one I wanted but could not find for a link is made by Putra Fakhrullah Sinatra. It had a white cloak and the murasama blade has been built into the sword/shield system aka GN sword 1. **

**Another difference, he uses pink beams for the gun/sword…I like the other ones green ones so lol picture those instead of green. And lastly the one made by PFS does not have the GN short sword kai custom…add that to it lol and the merge is complete and what I have for alice.**


	16. world tournament part 3

**If you have issues with OP characters and Mary sues READ THIS AUTHORS NOTE OR SKIP ALL BUILD FIGHTERS FIGHTS IN THIS CHAPTER!**

**I`d like to take a moment and alert people who are like me at times, and hate Mary sues, original characters that are so over powered and usually also self inserts that they can swat the main character or just the hero of the story like he/she was a fly or if it's an original story they are so strong no one can touch them.**

**This is a warning to such people: in this chapter Noah will be fighting,**

**Nemesis Astreas character Adam and his 1.5…kind of. The character is based off him but since I'm on a roll with writing and don't wish to wait for him it will just be a character named Adam who uses a reborn 1.5, master build but otherwise a straight build. I apologize if you read this nemesis but I thought it fitting for Adam to fight Noah without any true cross between the stories.**

**Riccardo Fellini and his fenice reniscita. **

**Meijin Kawaguchi and his amazing red warrior AND his kampfer amazing, those of you who do not need this warning will enjoy that fight.**

**Sei Lori and the build strike cosmos. I`ll be going back and redacting the build impulse…sadly I'm not that creative and I feel like I won't be able to do sei justice with a personally made new model for him. Since its abilities are unknown I will modify it but otherwise it's an upgraded star build strike like its appearance at the end of build fighters.**

**Because the continuation of the plot relies on Noah beating these characters and taking home the trophy…well…he WILL win all 4 fights.**

**BUT I will be making the fights fair, even, and Noah will be winning by a small margin. If you haven't already watch the star build strike vs the exia dark matter and vs the wing gundam fenice. Unlike their fight against the fenice none will be a draw…well technically against meijin he will have a draw but that is a spoiler...**

**ANYWAYS but that's the sort of damage they will come down too but like their fight against the dark matter Noah will literally only be wining even with his amount of damage due to his, and by extension his gunpla's drive to win.**

**So…if you can't even accept fights of that close degree of margin for the OC to beat the main character…I suggest you either wait for my next chapter to keep reading or skip those and read the parts of this where Nina is going to go on a killing spree and the pre-finals challenge matches and the race scene.**

**I intend for this chapter to be long, somewhat more detailed than usual, and if it's any consolation or helps in any way, remember this. While Noah's building skills are just barely at the minimum of being on par with both Sei and Meijin/Tatsuya and he's just now getting use to a more aggressive fighting style with less tactics and more on the fly, plan 5 moves ahead instead of 500 fighting, but whereas those 4 are veteran gunpla battlers, granted Noah is as well, Noah also has now gone above gunpla battles. **

**He has fought in the bloody valentine conflict and thanks to the zero system making Nina and the paladin has fought gundam pilot level mobile suits and pilots. He has been in what to his knowledge were life or death battles and come out on top…well…till EX-calibers damage status couldn't keep up with his new opponents. **

**So he may not be as good at gunpla battle as them…he knows what it means to actually pilot a gundam and that gives him a slight edge in my opinion over them as to how an actual fight would go compared to just duking it out with toys.**

**ANYWAYS let the final act of the world championship…BEGIN!**

_World tournament part 3_

Noah grinned as he walked his gunpla into the firing range that was the next period in the tournament,

They were still in the portion of the tournament where they were fighting for points.

In the previous Period had been a one on one random weapon match and like now he used his GM commando. His number had been 34 and his opponent ended up having the home field advantage as it was a custom deathscythe and they were fighting in the city. So the young girl who was the pretty pink death scythe hells fighter had quickly cloaked up.

The unfortunate thing was Noah brought his own weapon cases into the match to potentially confuse his opponent and painted each on with her number. So after he found his weapon crate, finding inside a large, square meat cleaver that was basically also the hand grip as it wrapped down…think of it like someone took a cleaver, extended the blade a bit but still square, then bent it in front of the handle with the blade out.

So as his opponent sadly found one of his weapon cases and were having trouble opening it obviously Noah snuck up behind them and jammed the blade into their back before pulling it out and ducking under a wide arc swing from their fist.

Before they could cloak up he snuck under their hyper jammer cloak and proceeded to chop off the cloaks "wings", disabling their cloaking before kicking it back and managing to throw the cleaver strong enough to take their head off and pin it to a nearby wall.

He then opened his case and revealed that it was empty…and his. With the fact he was the only one with weapons currently the girl conceded and Noah received his 2 points.

Now that they were in period three Noah proudly carried his heavy sniper rifle into the range and went to his station. While most of the contestants were using some sniper based model or just using a sniper rifle of some form and therefore were laying down at the line of fire or were kneeling, etc., Noah went to the back of his station and sat against it, hoisting up the folded back heavy rifle.

Now…beam cannons weren't allowed due to the fact you were SUPPOSED TO hit every target individually, not obliterate it all at once in a single shot. But…they never said someone could use a technically non scale heavy sniper rifle that was basically the gunpla equivalent to the anti-tank rifle used in the anime Hellsing when compared to all the other contestants' rifles.

With that in mind Noah flicked the switch to release the rifle and with a loud crash that caused everyone to pause and turn his rifle sprung forward from where it was folded in half and as the butt came to rest against Noah's shoulder, the pre-set bi-pod slammed into the ground and the long rifle was set to go, it's secondary handle folding out for Noah to grab.

*((quick reference as to why I describe this gun as being so powerful for a ballistic "gunpla" weapon, look up the kotobukiya heavy rifle real quick…yeah…it should look like a monster of a sniper rifle for a gunpla to use….))

Noah brought up his scope link and took a breath in…sighted the center target….

And pulled the trigger…

With that the loud bang that was the report of the rifle rang though the stadium, loud enough to sound like someone had fired a 45 caliber revolver right next to the announcer's microphone.

The moment he did the arena chimed that the battle was over. Obviously this brought concern to the other fighters as it seemed like Noah had cheated. But the referees looked at the footage of the match and watched how in one shot Noah took out all five targets, the very reason beam cannons weren't allowed…BUT while it was in pieces there was still plenty left of the original target stand. So while he was docked a point for using such a heavy rifle he still won the event.

The next period of the tournament was some sort of team sport challenge…the closest thing Noah would relate to it was basketball. Either way he used the Gabriel gundam and its sword bits forming a GN particle field that widened the net for them. While technically weapons were once again not allowed…personal weapons anyways, his sword bits were part of his gunpla so thankfully he wasn't disqualified for this or hurt his team.

Period 5 was team 3 on 3 matches and Noah used his "EX-caliber imposter" the custom impulse he built to fight sekai with. These matches proved to not be a challenge for him as his team ended up being well rounded, with him as CQB, they had a seravee with them who acted as defense, and then a legend gunpla from gundam seed destiny who took on the role of their long range fighter.

Finally it came down to the race and Noah was in the fighter's booth watching Sei and the meijin jockey for first place. Meanwhile he was making sure the Gabriel was well tuned and ready for the race. He already knew a lot of eyes were on him…most people wanted to beat his brains in just because of his hyper discharge system, others felt he shouldn't be here, especially after the shooting range incident.

He glanced up and watched as the current race entered its final lap, Sei and Kawaguchi leading the pack by almost a full lap. It was no contest, the Meijin using his kampfer amazing while Sei was still in his build strike cosmos. Noah couldn't help but smile as he thought about how well he'd likely win. Obviously he couldn't just use the quantum leap between gates since his cooldown time wouldn't allow it. But still he had three GN drives and weapons were allowed….

Plus he had his hyper discharge system….

The race would certainly be fun.

The world tournament part 3

**Cosmic era 71, April 20****th****, 24 hours after reconstruction of EX-caliber and 10 hours since Noah's battle with alike.**

Nina was sitting at small table in a café just down the street from the armory where it was rumored they held the remains of EX-caliber. She was wearing a simple civilian outfit, sunglasses and was sipping on a vanilla latte.

She had been watching the guard rotations, using a tablet to try and check schedules around the area with zaft academy nearby for potential field trips she could sneak in with. After all it wasn't just EX-caliber in there. It was the future of zaft. Everything from prototype mobile suits to weapons testing to advances in zaft flight suit protection.

As she sipped on her coffee she blinked and looked up when someone tapped on her shoulder. She frowned when she saw two zaft MP's standing behind her. "Yes? What can I help you two with?" she asked as she quickly got out her zaft faith badge…which she somehow kept even though she was no longer a member due to her actions with Noah.

It seemed they knew as they did not salute her. "Please come with us ma'am…"said one of them, a young white haired boy. She sighed and stood up. "What? Is it a crime to have coffee here?" she asked but the MP's were silent. Instead leading her to a car which she got into before they followed and sat on either side of her.

A moment later the car started and the MP driving pulled them away from the curb and turned at the nearby corner, driving them past the facility and making Nina upset.

"Someone going to tell me why I'm clearly being taken somewhere I'm not going to like?" asked Nina as she looked to the two guards.

A young woman sighed from the front seat and turned around. "You have been a bad girl Nina. You had the perfect opportunity to capture one of zafts HVT's, or kill him, and instead you let the natural trash pop you're cherry. Then when his suit is weak and would have been easy prey for you and Heine combined you leave him for Heine…or no you basically left Heine high and dry for Mr. Carson to possibly kill because you were too love struck to kill him. Then after saving him you go and can't deal the finishing blow and Heine ultimately gets the honor of claiming him slayed the beast. Care to defend your actions?" asked an older zaft red MP woman as she looked at Nina. Clearly she herself was a bad girl or else at her age she should be a captain or some higher rank then just a red. But Nina could only smirk when she wondered how many dicks the woman sucked to stay a red at least.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Find that funny? Well how about I ask in a different manner and we will see how funny it is. You see this?" she asked holding up Nina's file before shifting her hand to hold two folders, the second being her investigation case. First she shook the one containing her military career.

"You are quite the soldier. Good pilot, I mean most of it's redacted at this point, black ink and such, but I know enough to say if you can pass your investigation you may get your paladin back just on good marks. But you see…there's been some…policy changes…"she said before she grabbed the two files and tore them in half, then again…and again, till she could roll down the window and just let them fly out.

"That all went out the window, literally now, but metaphorically…the moment you dropped your pants for that piece of filth. See…naturals are our enemies. And if you can't be trusted to be with one of the biggest enemies zaft has…well had…" "Has…he's still alive." Interrupted Nina. The woman blinked and shook her head, sighing.

"ok…that delusion aside, you could have slept with him, lulled him into a false sense of security and then killed him, crippled him, captured him…ANYTHING but let him live or return to the legged ship!" she shouted and the car finally stopped outside a large building on the outskirts of aprilius one.

"so…there will be no investigation…no trial…no court martial...hell you don't even get a phone call to...oh wait…all your friends and your one lover are dead or you betrayed them so they left you…so…I'll ask again…you care to explain yourself…or are you gonna give me the joy of watching your natural loving ass rot in the brig till you die of old age or kill yourself in depression when you realize your boyfriend is dead as a doorknob? "Asked the woman as she looked Nina in the eyes. Her face read clearly she wanted Nina to say something, anything…nothing would change the facts. No one wanted to admit it and those that did agreed with him. Zala saw coordinators as a new species…and felt such hatred for naturals that he was rumored to be rounding all naturals in the plants up under conspiracy toc commit treason. Guess she fit that group since she fell in love with one.

The woman smiled. "Nothing to say? So I get my dream come true? Get to throw you in here and watch you spiral down into the darkness as you rot for the rest of your life?" asked the woman…

Nina noticed neither MP guard she had had their side arms hidden, covered or well…guarded.

"like hell you will…."she growled before she made the young MP's regret not cuffing her as she socked one in the jaw, knocking her out before grabbing her weapon and before the white haired boy could get his the zaft red had hers out, safety off and Nina was pulling him in front of her so as the driver and red emptied their magazines into "Nina" she had the poor young boy as a meat shield.

When the two guards went to reload, swearing as they realized they had made a big mistake. Nina drew the gun she took from the unconscious girl next to her and put two in each coordinators back before leaning forwards and putting one in the back of their heads.

Knowing the guards inside would be out there any second to check out the gun fire Nina quickly opened the boy's door and shoved him out before getting out, grabbing his side arm and taking off running down the street.

No more waiting…she was storming the complex apparently…

_World tournament party 3_

"**Reality", 3 months, 2 days and 6 hours since EX-calibers destruction**

Noah smiled as he looked across to his opponent for the first of the quarter final matches. His name was Adam Winslow and he had a custom 1.5 gundam. This match would be interesting as both his gunplay and Noah's were GN drive powered, both could utilize trans-am, and both had a heavy weapon that if Adam's previous fights had anything to say about rivaled some of the strongest beam cannons in the gundam universe.

Also just like Noah, Adam was a brilliant strategist and master builder. There was no question that this match would be close.

As the arena began dispersing plavsky particles Noah pulled the Gabriel gundam out and looked it over. He had tuned it up this morning and was trying to think of how to start the fight.

Adam was clearly a balanced fighter, infect his fighting style mirrored Kira's almost…well actually mirrored most gundam pilots as he'd fire a few shots to throw the enemy off then charge in with his beam saber.

This fighting style was a good choice for most any fighter, especially if your mobile suit was well rounded. Noah's however CQB oriented with a few guns was. This posed a problem with them both having GN drives but Noah had the advantage of having THREE GN drives but the third was ready. Still…this would be a challenge.

When prompted to he placed his GP-base down and then the Gabriel gundam on it. As he did so the haptic controls came up and he took a deep breath. With this match his final series of challenges to prove he was ready for the cosmic era would begin…

The system announced that the field was number 5, city. That was good. It would make it so neither of them would have the home field advantage. The system then stated that the battle could start and Noah watched his main monitor as he quietly let his gundam launch.

As he exited his launch tunnel he quickly found himself under attack, having to bring his GN buster swords around front to block Adam's opening salvo. The one downside to this field with two high speed machines…it was tiny as fuck! The only way to widen it was to force a field change by blowing a hole in the colony that it usually was set in.

Bringing his swords turned shields back to his side once the beams stopped he brought up both GN sword rifles and found his target cautiously making his way to him, not bothering to hide amongst the buildings or keep firing. It seemed this battle was going to start like a turned based fighting game till one of them decided to use the city as cover.

With that in mind Noah lowered his rifles and took the initiative, diving down amongst the buildings before beginning to zig and zag between the buildings, waiting to either run into the gundam he now knew as the "eyes" gundam or till Adam opened up on him again.

He was made aware of the eyes location when the latter happened, Adam popping up behind Noah and firing at his 00[t] shield. His objective had likely been to destroy his GN sword bits before he could use them in his hyper discharge system.

Figuring someone might target them though Noah had reinforced the shield. So the two shots he took to the back were absorbed by the extra armor though as he spun around he found himself pushed back into a building as Adam charged him and jumped back, bringing his binders into the Avalon cannon mode. The binders quickly began to charge the cannon shot and Noah threw his two GN sword rifles to the side.

He'd spend too many particles to do a GN field AND anything else at full power later so he used his main twin GN drives to boost at Adam and tackle him, forcing him to switch his binders to high speed mode in order to not get pushed too far back. After a moment Noah let him go and the eyes switched to attack mode, firing a series of medium strength beams at Noah who just blocked them with his buster sword.

He had ditched his primary weapons so a he boosted towards the eyes again he hid the fact he was reaching down to grab one of his GN katar's on his legs by taking a swing at Adam which he easily dodged before Noah surprised him by bringing his GN katar up to once again hide him grabbing the second one.

Again Adam easily dodged it and as Noah boosted back he fired off a high powered rifle shot. Noah once again blocked it with his GN buster swords.

As soon as Noah could he boosted to the side, the right, and out of Adams line of sight. What Noah forgot about the 1.5 gundam was that in its attack mode the binders allowed the pilot the bend their beams.

With that in mind Adam fired a low powered "buster shot" and as the large beam left his barrel he turned his binders to the right just in time to curve the shot to follow Noah. He was smiling as to his satisfaction rather than expecting no form of reaction due to Noah blocking with his buster swords.

Instead he was rewarded with an explosion and smoke billowing out of the corner Noah turned. He lifted off the ground and flew forward and around the corner, hoping Noah had made a mistake and lost a significant amount of armor.

Instead he found the broken and smoldering remains of one of the buster swords. This confused him. Why ditch one of his shields when now his model was unbalanced and likely hard to control?

His confusion was cleared up when out of a nearby alley Noah sprung from the shadows, bringing his second GN buster sword crashing down where the eyes had just been. Adam was amazed as he noticed the GN katar's had been connected to form the GN shield 2 and his model was able to wield the buster sword one handed if his machine easily lifting the massive sword was any indication.

Noah meanwhile looked to the eyes as Adam began to take flight and growled. This fight was annoying for him. Mainly in the fact they were rather evenly matched, Noah's only disadvantage being making the Gabriel so CQB oriented.

As Adam turned around and flew away, likely trying to gain distance so he could plan ahead or just gather his thoughts Noah launched from the ground and began to follow. When he was high enough to where he should have seen the eyes he found it was once more gone.

"Damn he's fast…guess this is what I get for never thinking of how I'd handle another GN drive powered machine." Stated Noah. He was glad he had made sure to tune the spots where his camera's and sensors were this morning extra thoroughly. An alarm blared as he found the eyes beneath him finally getting his Avalon cannon shot off…with Noah in perfect position to be in the epi-center of the blast.

Instead he rapidly deployed his sword bits in a defensive form and was save by a large particle barrier being put between him and the blast. Tricky things though…particle barriers. If they met another particle based weapon it all depended on which had the higher frequency, aka the higher particle density as to which one won. To Noah's dismay…his seemed to be weaker as he only got an extra second to dodge to the right once again before his bits were overwhelmed and vaporized.

While that one second allowed him to dodge the main blast he still ended up having his GN shield 2 and left arm caught in the blast from the elbow down. He grit his teeth as he quickly dropped his buster sword, reached back and whipped out his right GN buster sword 2. Quickly he aimed down where the eyes was still recovering from firing such a large blast and like when someone exited Trans-am it was not able to move and react as quickly. Taking advantage of that he closed the ports on his third GN drive and didn't bother waiting for a lock on. He activated the hyper discharge system and within an instant angry crimson red burst forth from his rifle as he tried to end this fight here and now.

Noah growled as his beam hit where the eyes was but it moved at the last second, and like Noah it's left side got caught in the blast but more of him was caught, taking his left arm off completely, shoulder and all but it also caught the left binder as he had entered flight mode but the binders had been turned to the right so he could move faster. Due to this the tail end of the binder got caught and evaporated.

Since the end had the rifle in it Noah watched as it sparked and exploded. He replaced his GN buster sword two on his back and was ready to go down and finish the eyes off as he drew his GN long sword kai.

Instead sadly he not only found the colony go dark and a field change announcement come up he also found himself blocking the eyes beam saber as it had ditched it's rifle and seemed intent on overpowering Noah, slowly pushing him back as it entered trans-am.

The beauty of his trinity drive was that when it came to Noah's hyper discharge and trans-am, especially trans-am, the three GN drives were not connected. While trans-am could be initiated by either the single GN drive or by the twin drive system, it did not affect the other unless Noah needed to move and FAST in which case he could run trans-am with all three drives though he ran the risk at that point of overloading his gundam with the G's he'd be pulling, even his reinforced joints unable to stand the pressure after a short time.

So as the eyes began to glow pink and would back off, rush in for a strong strike then attack with a flurry of strikes before backing off again Noah used his twin drive system to enter trans am and lead Adam on a chase through the streets of the colony as he moved away from the break in its wall to keep them from being pulled out into space. Finally when they were far enough they weren't being pulled towards it Noah landed and turned around, firing a few shots from the GN long sword kais beam rifle mode.

This caused Adam to bring up his arm to block them and as he did so Noah took a page out of Nina and Heine's book and threw his long sword at the eyes. Adam lowered his arm soon enough though that in trans-am he easily rolled onto his side to dodge the blade.

With that dodged Noah opened up with the GN Vulcan in his wrist till Adam was on top of him, giving him just enough time to draw his GN short sword kai. After that he began to use heavy downward strikes and every time Noah boosted back he'd just follow him, at one point feinting an upward slash strike to bring his beam saber up to impale the Gabriel gundams head.

Going off his last visual of the eyes Noah brought his GN short sword kai up in a diagonal slash and gave the eyes a deep gash in its chest before bringing his leg up to kick him back. After that he returned the favor by taking the eye's head off as he boosted towards him in a blind power stab attack.

Adam responded by spinning his beam saber in his hand and jamming it into Noah's 00[t] shield. Noah groaned as he was forced into the ground with this as well but it also gave Noah a reason to worry he might lose. Quickly disengaging the shield he used to last of his trans-am to roll over fast enough to throw the compromised GN drive off his back then rolled the other way to avoid another attack from Adam.

At this point it was a fast paced slug out, both of them exiting trans-am, unable to use their main camera, and resorting to blocking and parrying each other's swords occasionally getting an occasional light scratch in.

"It's time to end this…" said Noah and once more he kicked Adam's eyes gundam back before throwing the GN short sword kai at him. This time it hit its mark, digging into Adam's right shoulder and causing his right arm to go limp.

Believing him defenseless Noah charged the eyes with his last weapon within reach of his remaining and mangled arm, the GN buster sword 2. He charged him and took a sideways slash at him. This time he severed the right arm, but had forgotten the 1.5 gundams second binder.

Adam began to climb away from Noah but Noah raised his GN buster sword 2 and right as the eyes revealed its modified binder, raising up over the busted shoulder and firing back at Noah, the blonde gundam pilot fired a sniper shot at the eyes, nailing it in the back and managing to catch the GN drive.

At the same time Adam's last shot hit a similar target and Noah found the Gabriel gundam on its knees as it braced itself after its left GN drive exploded in its housing, taking the rest of the left arm and leaving the model with less than a quarter of the power output needed to work.

Luckily for Adam the eyes still had a little bit of power left in its GN condenser in its torso so while it couldn't really move the eyes'…eyes flickered but the model was still active.

Finally the strain was too much and the Gabriel fell flat on its face, shutting down at literally the exact same moment the eyes did. For some reason the arena did not call a draw or battle ended though.

Noah knew exactly why. Just like the eye's gunpla had GN particles left in the torso condenser. As he watched his custom particle gauge slowly empty he continued to move the arm rakes. "Come on damn you…move…get up…this can't be the end…I need to go back…"he shouted at his screen. With that the Gabriel's eyes flickered and as Noah gripped his control orbs the left hand twitched before slowly clenching into a fist.

With that the Gabriel slowly began to lift itself, seemingly wanting to deny fate the joy of ending its career before it really even began. With that the gunpla rose to its knees and sat up, defiantly waiting for an unseen, gunpla god to decide if it got to live or not.

Finally the battle system called the match, declaring Noah the winner and the plavsky particles began to fade away.

Noah could hear the entire crowd cheering as he looked at the two destroyed gunpla. While Adam was clearly an excellent builder and an amazing fighter, he was no Meijin or sei.

As he looked to his demolished Gabriel gundam, still in its position of sitting on its knees, it's right arm just barely propping it up.

He watched Adam collect the eyes and look to Noah, smiling as he nodded, a silent "good fight" signal before walking away.

Noah finally moved around the arena and collected the remains of the Gabriel gundam. He was still trying to decide how to handle the rest of the tournament. If he could barely beat Adam and his eyes gundam, who was to say the Gabriel was up to par with the wing gundam fenice reniscita? Or the meijin's amazing red warrior?

Then there was the build strike cosmos…he felt I would be far more of a challenge then any of the others.

With that thought Noah left the arena, even the building in general. Gabriel was too complicated to need just a night to fix. So his first stop was a hobby shop for replacement parts, then to a certain girl waiting in his complimentary room at the hotel meant for the fighters. If he hoped to have any chance of fixing this gunpla without taking an entire week he'd need her help. After all he didn't have adoption paperwork waiting for him as well truly out of the kindness of his heart.

_World tournament part 3_

**Cosmic era 71, April 20****th****, 2 hours since Nina became labeled a traitor**

Nina was panting as she hid inside a small lab room. She was sitting behind a desk and sweating like crazy. Sirens blared around her as the research facility went into lockdown due to her having now killed a total of 3 guards and 2 techs trying to play hero.

She had searched every hangar so far and could not seem to find EX-caliber. She had three of them left and all three were now heavily guarded.

Glancing down to check what her combat capabilities were like she ejected the magazine from her gun and found it seemed light on ammunition. 5 rounds in the assault rifle she had picked up at best. And the side arm she had still from the poor girl who tried to help capture her had one full magazine left.

She growled and glanced over the desk, hearing more guards run down the hall to reinforce the mass already there. Deciding it was time to bite the bullet and either go down fighting she mounted the desk and before the guards could react she raised the rifle to her shoulder and accurately put a round in the back of the three soldier's heads. She tossed the rifle down and pulled out the sidearm, running down to the hall to turn into the zero G entrance to the hangar.

Once inside she quickly pushed off the right wall to "jump" to the left before pushing forward off the wall to zigzag into cover behind the open doors to the hangar all while miraculously dodging every shot fired at her

**(If you want to, start playing nightcore "this little girl" like I am at the moment. And try to match the end of this to the chorus at the end, the shell dropping effect in the song just makes this ending pop to me.)**

Just past the door was a squad of zaft red MP's all with their gun's trained on the door. Glancing around the corner she quickly shot her head back behind the doorway as a shot pinged off the wall.

Behind the firing squad stood a zaft commander, a faith badge on his chest.

"**NINA YONG!" **he shouted and she couldn't help but wince as she somehow recognized the voice. Drawing on her foggy and faint memories she remembered it belonging to at the time a simple mark Bellerose, zaft red, decorated vet even early in the war.

Now a commander it seemed he was even a member of faith.

"Behind me stands your natural lovers mobile suit! Do you honestly plan to steal it from us? After all the damage it did to your kinsmen, all it did to your sweet _paladin_…you still would see it used against us?" he shouted and Nina growled.

"It may have done all the damage and I may be betraying my country…but god damn it uncle mark! Tell me you can't see zala's blind hatred for naturals!? Tell me you can't see just what this war is going to boil down to!" she shouted back as she tried to think about how to handle all the guards without having to kill the man she knew as uncle apparently. She was also just glad this was the correct hangar. But if EX-caliber was in here….what were in the other 2 hangars they were guarding so tightly?

"So what? Your claiming zala will turn this into a genocide campaign?!" he shouted as he signaled for all his men to reload. It was clear Nina wouldn't stand down but still she seemed to want to talk.

"Yes! And the naturals will do the same if their precious blue cosmos has anything to say about it!" replied Nina.

"So you`d have us lay down and accept our deaths? With this machine we can jump mobile suit technology leaps and bounds ahead of modern day and even more so compared to anything the naturals can produce, even that stupid gat series!"

"Yes but I'm afraid I can't let you use Noah's machine for such purposes!"

"And why is that? Because you slept with him suddenly you think your some member of celestial being? That you can take his machine, go take over what? His ties to the Amalfi boy? And then what will you do?" he asked, curious now as to her motives behind clearly trying to take EX-caliber.

"I don't intend to use it in a fight at all! I`d take it to earth, hide it in the deepest darkest place possible, hell if it means neither zaft nor the earth alliance gets their hands on it…" she said, closing her eyes as a tear ran down her cheek.

"I'll take it to the Mariana's trench…and go as deep as I have too before the pressure crushes it…with me inside. I`d rather die than live to see my loves hard work turned into a genocidal war machine…" she said loudly. Remembering her fight with Noah, remembering how she felt with each part she broke. Somewhere deep down even then she remembered it was supposed to be just a plastic model, meaning with each part she broke he'd have to painstakingly fix by hand eventually.

She heard her uncle laugh and closed her eyes tightly, growling as she heard his reply.

"So you simply wish to deny such a powerful asset from either side of this war. And on top of that this has all been a suicide mission from the start. Well if you're done with life then just step out and I'd be happy to end it for you." He called out with a laugh.

With that Nina opened her eyes, and as in Noah's living room the screens turned on and shined a bright gold, her eyes shined gold as well. She ejected the magazine and checked it.

Still full, no deformities, it was good.

With that she pushed it back inside till I locked in place. She pulled the slide back…and everything seemed to slow around her.

She turned the corner and brought the pistol up, single handed, even as the MP's opened fire she managed to keep from taking a single bullet.

Finally after a couple steps she pulled the trigger once…then again…and again till she had managed to put a round in every single zaft soldiers head except her uncles.

No...As he scrambled to reload his own pistol Nina mentally checked and realized she still had two rounds left.

Lowering her aim she fired one shot into his leg and watched him tumble to the ground. Walking up beside him he could only watch as EX-caliber, as if reacting to Nina's presence, opened its cockpit.

But before Nina got in she turned to him and he found himself looking down the barrel of her gun.

"I…Nina yong…here-by resign from zaft and faith….let zala know I said that when he finds you in hell." she stated before mark's world went black.

Meanwhile Nina's eyes stopped glowing and everything came back to normal speed for her. She almost jumped when she heard the clanging of the shell casing from her last round hitting the railing.

She looked around and then at herself, amazed she survived what likely had been walking straight into her own firing squad.

She then turned and saw EX-calibers cockpit open and looked up as she heard the hangar doors begin to open.

She turned back to the open cockpit and with as deep breath stepped inside, closed the door and began to power up the machine.

"Nina yong…EX-caliber…LAUNCHING!" she shouted before pushing her new accelerator to its max, almost fainting just at hearing the hum of the GN drive spinning up, her brain trying to get over the fact she was in EX-caliber.

After a few seconds of passing through multiple blast doors and hangar doors that made up the security of the launch site she met open space.

She put some distance between herself and the plants before stopping to go over the console. She frowned. While EX-calibers arsenal WAS small and easily mapped to a small console she thought they`d be a bit more grandiose about the cockpit. This was literally a GINN cockpit that was reconfigured to likely be mapped to EX-calibers capabilities.

As she looked through the new OS to figure it all out and make some changes she heard an alarm begin to blare. She forgot about the home defense fleet. They were light at the moment due to operation spitbreak but still someone would have spotted her sooner or later.

Looking up she saw that a pair of ginns were hauling ass to her position. So with that she got out of the OS and gripped the controls. Timing it perfectly so that as she pushed the acceleration pedal down and her throttle to max she also pressed a few buttons on the right control stick. This brought the replacement for EX-calibers GN blade out and as a ring of GN particles formed behind the drive she boosted forward in a burst of speed.

A quick twirl as she passed between the GINN's and she flew away from two bisected mobile suits, soon exploding behind her as she curved her path towards earth. She hoped this thing could handle re-entry…otherwise…well…she just didn't want to think about that. Instead she focused on figuring out where she could hide this machine till after the war…after she found Noah. He'd know how to dispose of it.

_World tournament part 3_

"**Reality" 4 hours after Noah's fight with the "eye's"**

Noah sighed as he walked into his hotel room. In truth he barely spent any time here, only sleeping and occasionally eating in here. He closed the door behind him with his foot as in his arms were two bags of various models, supplies and tools. Then on his arms were two bags of groceries.

As he walked inside and set things down on HIS bed he turned around to see Alice sitting at the building station that was in the room. She was deep in concentration while working on tuning her exia crossbone. Explains the lack of a hello or where is the food or just help getting his supplies inside.

She was in his hotel room due to the fact he was supposed to be adopting her. So she was staying with him as expected while also using it to hide from the salvager group till he could pay them off. But the tournament had him too busy

Even as Noah walked over and looked over her shoulder she never broke concentration as she used one of his exacto knives like he taught her already to sharpen her exia's GN short sword kai. He decided to see how she'd react…if...

He cleared his throat and had to jump back as the exacto knife flew up in the air and he heard a thud. Before even looking to him, Alice looked up with him to find the sharp exacto blade had stuck to the ceiling. Alice then turned to him and blushed.

"Sorry…I um…I got really deep into It." she said and Noah nodded. "I understand." He said, looking past her gundam to find an envelope with a local adoption lawyers name on it. "_So the papers arrived…guess it really is gonna happen…"_ thought Noah. The lawyer had said with the fact Alice was technically a run away and he had to go through certain channels to even try and get custody paperwork going for the teen.

He put his hand on her shoulder and smiled. "It's fine. I understand. Besides…"he said, getting the Gabriel gundam out of his gunpla case and setting the remains of the model down. "I need your help. And it's gonna take everything you already know, plus what I taught you and what I'm going to teach you." he stated as the girls eyes went wide.

Suddenly Alice was glad she hadn't gotten into the world tournament. Whatever did this to Noah…even with his experience in actual gundam fights…she knew she wouldn't have lasted this long. But he needed her help?

It was then she noticed the bags from the hobby shop. But why go there? While they were required to give a list of any possible required parts or models or equipment the builders might need to repair their gunpla, the gunpla fighter oriented hotel had small lift elevators in the wall at the work desk and an intercom. This would allow fighters to use the intercom to coordinate with the workshop on the ground floor. Anything on the list they gave when they checked in they could call for free of charge and it would be sent up. Tools, models, styrene sheets, anything on that list.

Anything else though was dirt cheap. Usually it was about a dollar a model and this was only because they made a list of all the items given in these fashions, submitted it to the corporation that ran the tournament and were usually reimbursed at the end of the tournament.

This kept fighters stocked and ready to fight and the tournament exciting due to not having fighters with half repaired models due to money constraints.

Either way she watched Noah walk over, grab a large box from one of the paper bags full of models and bring it over. He gently moved her exia out of the way and set it in front of her.

"Your job is to build this model….3 times." he said, pointing to the same bag. "Build it to the best of your abilities. Don't try to copy Gabriel. I`ll bring it to that level. But if you can even make it to your exia's standard that will be helpful. You have 48 hours. "He said before going over to one of his travel bags and opening it, shifting through it till he brought out another gunpla case. This one was red, while Gabriel's was a nice leather. This new one also had the symbol for zaft on it.

As she began to open the model and get set up with the gunpla building equivalent to "mise en place" she glanced to her new father figure and was surprised to see him pull out another masterwork. This one looked like it was based on the buster.

From what she could see it was covered in missiles, and while not familiar with the series she was sure a lot of the parts that made it so custom came from an armor pack that went on something called a zoid.

As she watched him go through what was likely a pre-tune up checklist she watched him open missile ports in the skirt armor, the KNEE armor…hell the new missile launchers on the shoulders no longer had their orange covers. Instead each shoulder sported 2 large missiles…then two more on the sides near the back though those two were bigger. In terms of munitions she guessed when also compared to the gundam they would be the equivalent to a cruise missile. She was about to start laughing at how absurd it was to have this much firepower at his fingertips when he also pulled out a sliding missile pod that was aimed up but had maybe 10 missile caps meaning 10 more missiles. Finally he went back to the front and flipped down what she had thought was its targeting system…no here's four more missiles on each shoulder.

As expected the gundam likely put out a lot of heat. She noticed he had addled long tubes to the clavicle armor that looked too have two large holes at the end. She figured it was a venting system as a machine with that much firepower likely accumulated a lot of heat. It's head was also modified too include four head Vulcans…yes because something with that many missiles needed head Vulcans to intercept more missiles.

There was so much more to this custom model then she figured she even knew. The heavy cannons mounted on its fore arms were enough to warrant caution to her. But it seemed her new father liked to go all out if he was going to go one way or another. The Gabriel gundam was a full on CQB machine while this custom buster looked like it was a…well…what to call it? A walking armory? A walking arsenal? Just…suffice to say the fact he kept it a similar paint scheme was the most normal part about it. That thing could give the virtue or heavyarms a run for their money anytime.

Once he had done his check she watched him carefully take the model's body apart, then breaking it down further till he practically had the model back to where he should need instructions. Once he had it broken down that far he put his hands together oddly in almost a small prayer. Once that was done he picked up a piece and soon was underway in an effort to likely tune the gundam for his fight the next day.

She had to admire the man's dedication to his gunpla and to fighting. To now have the chance to learn from him…to work on his models apparently…it was going to be amazing. With that in mind she dug into the kit she had been assigned and began building. She had 48 hours to build three of them…but would that give Noah enough time to customize them to fit the Gabriel gundam for the semi-finals?

_World tournament part 3 _

**Cosmic era 71, JOSH-A base, date and time unknown**

Dearka sighed as he rolled onto his side. He was thinking of that natural girl, miriallia was what he recalled her being called. He had been trying to keep his distance by being rude and making smart remarks…but apparently one cruel joke he made hadn't been a joke.

The way it sounded, after he got shot down the girl's boyfriend was in the fighter that cut his busters rifle barrel in half and had gone off to try to help the strike against athrun. He moved in at the wrong moment and athrun picked him off somehow.

"How was I supposed to know?" he muttered sorrowfully as he closed his eyes.

He was pulled from his self-pity party by a wrapping of someone's knuckles on his cell bars. He turned and looked and groaned. It was Nicol.

"Here to yell at me more about how you don't know me anymore or you gonna turn into a missionary and try to recruit me?" he asked as with a grunt he sat up in his bunk and he looked into Nicols eyes.

Nicol smirked. "A bit of both. The Dearka I knew looks like he's back and laying in this cell." He stated as he sipped on a mug of coffee. Oh what Dearka wouldn't give for a cup right now…or a good steak…just SOMETHING that wasn't military rations which it looked to him like Nicol wasn't exactly drinking the ships brew.

"What's that supposed to mean? How am I any different then I was back in the med bay?" he asked as he looked away from Nicol.

"You were channeling yzak just without the likely violence and swearing he'd involve. To put it more plainly…you were being a dick." stated Nicol as he took another sip of his coffee.

Being called a dick made Dearka glare at his former teammate. "Oh yeah? And so what when you first showed up you were probably kissing their ass just to get out of your cell huh? Probably made every plea imaginable, told them all about the homelands defenses just to be able to join celestial being didn't you?" he exclaimed as he slowly got off his bunk and took a step towards the bars.

Nicol shook his head. "Nope…Noah stated they had already been planning to recruit me. So when he shared a cell next to mine he offered me the job. When he got out he bargained with the captain to let me pilot the blitz. Worst part of the deal was I had to fight you guys. Otherwise the only deal I had to make was to protect this ship." he said. That made Dearka grab the bars angrily. "You what!? You mean you had a chance to sink this ship and didn't take it!? You really are a traitor!" he shouted and Nicol took a step back to stay out of his potential reach.

Nicol shook his head. "I realized I had that option multiple times. The problem is…they treated me well. I mean yeah at first all I got was glares and was poked and prodded by every guard that escorted me anywhere trying to get me to react so they could have cause to attack me…but then I shot down a GiNN that was about to sink them and suddenly they saw me in a whole new light. It`s taken some time but I'm a fully integrated part of this crew. So…back to my original reason for coming down to see you. Yes…I was hoping to recruit you. My only problem is Noah kept me also from sinking the ship because he swore that unless I could prove I didn't sink it or if I straight up sunk it myself…he'd kill me. Now come on Dearka…tell me you wouldn't do what a man who thought he was strong enough to challenge the world when he threatens to kill you if you do or don't do some insanely simple task? "He asked.

Dearka blinked. So…that was how it was? Nicol hadn't stayed…at least at first on his own accord. He stayed under duress. Then he did what he agreed to do and the naturals ended up accepting him. Would that happen with him? Would that maybe make things better between him and the brunette who he made that cruel joke about?

Internally he shook his head. Who cared if she liked him? He was their prisoner. And even worse he was being offered the same offer as Nicol to betray his homeland and live.

"So…what if I join you and decide I wanna say fuck it and sink the ship?" he asked as he walked back to his bed and plopped down on it, crossing his arms.

Nicol shrugged. "I'm not Noah, but the buster is pretty well…well busted and the blitz is in even worse condition. So if you do…you're going down with the ship. But even if you waited till the buster or blitz was working. We are now deep in the Alaska bases air defenses. You wouldn't get far before either your battery ran out or you sank to your death or till you got shot down. "Said Nicol as he sipped his coffee again.

"So while I'm not Noah I guess the same offer goes. Join me, I'll get you in my custody, and we can take the buster and blitz and go back to orb…"

"Why orb?" asked Dearka, confused why the neutral nation would give them asylum in mobile suits.

"Because the head of morgenroete and Noah seemed to hit it off and I'm sure the princess would be happy to accept celestial being into their defense forces. We hide out there till we can upgrade the blitz and buster or have them make us a small ship or something. I don't know I'll think of it later, but we go on and perform the armed interventions Noah wanted to do." Said Nicol as he laid out his current plan.

Dearka raised an eyebrow. "Really? Just the two of us?" he asked

"And flay…she'd need to learn to pilot the ship but I think we could recruit some people in orb too…."he said. He was trying to be optimistic about this. After all the meeting he was "invited too" in a couple hours with the earth alliance brass could end with his death, his capture. After all again he wasn't Noah Carson and he was deep in the lion's den for anti-coordinator sentiment. Hell he was being given armed guards from captain Ramius, whether it was actually her idea or not as long as he wasn't escorted in cuffs or not would determine how supportive she may be.

Dearka meanwhile scoffed at his plan. "So in other words join you and pray the earth alliance lets you take me AND take the blitz and buster and leave here? What's to say they may decide to have a "training exercise the moment we go to leave and bam? They shoot us down by "accident"?" he asked as he fell back on the bed and closed his eyes. "If Noah Carson were here…I'd believe in this plan of yours. That guy had a big brass pair and openly stated both the earth alliance and zaft were his enemies. Plus his mobile suit could handle anything they threw at him. I mean I'm not saying I would be super loyal right away…but if it means not having to worry about rotting in some natural POW camp I'd be all for joining." Stated the tan coordinator as he opened his eyes.

"But the fact of the matter is you're not, and in the blitz's condition I'm not gonna put my chips down on you having the bargaining power to get me out of here. So yeah…I'll pass." he said before waving away Nicol.

The green haired coordinator sighed. "Fine…whatever you say Dearka. I do hope that they don't take you off the ship but then again we have been sequestered onboard for more than a week and they haven't taken you for questioning so who knows. It does give me a bad feeling but I'm not sure what it could be." He stated before finally leaving the brig.

World tournament part 3

"**Reality", world tournament quarter semifinals match, fenice reniscita vs buster panzer**

Noah looked across the arena at Riccardo Fellini. He had beaten this man before…but it was with EX-caliber and on top of that it was by a thin margin and trans-am. This time…out of all of that…all he had was trans-am and the fact the GN drive would remove his movement penalty due to weight.

As he set the buster panzer down he watched Fellini set down his fenice reniscita as the cockpits formed. His was a walking powder-keg, one of the drawbacks to the fact the buster panzer was SO SPECIALIZED as an artillery and support unit. All it would take was a grazing blast from his buster rifle or even his secondary rifle and the buster panzer would light up like a Christmas tree.

The map loaded and he launched. It was a space map but a unique one. It was new, the center of the map held the remains of junius seven. It was there Noah and Fellini set their gunpla down across from each other on a long strip of road between ruined buildings.

"Where is that fancy gunpla you used in the survival match and against that eye's gundam?" asked Fellini as they both lowered their weapons.

"The Gabriel is very intricate in its construction. It`ll take less than a single night for me to repair it. Thankfully I had this buster panzer available." Replied Noah as he watched the reniscita look over his walking armory.

Fellini chuckled. "I see. I was hoping to see if I could beat it. After all that thing….I am curious how you transported that beam. Perhaps if I beat you here you will tell me?" he asked as he raised his shield and buster rifle, Noah raising his two hybrid cannons from the panzer armor set of a liger zero from the series zoids which were mounted on the busters forearms.

Seeing that Noah had his two cannons Fellini chuckled again and split his rifle so that he held the smaller rifle and the buster rifle at his waist. "You really wish to fight? All it will take is hitting one of those missile pods and your gunpla will go up in flames." He stated.

Noah smiled. "you really think I didn't think of that?" he asked as he decided to fire the opening shots, two large green beams leaving the barrels of the hybrid cannons before the front panel of his knee joints opened to reveal a pair of micro missile units. 12 small missiles shot out before they closed, the missiles spiraling and going everywhere.

Fellini rose his shield to block the beams which were surprisingly strong as they pushed him back slightly. When he lowered his shield he saw the missiles and quickly boosted up. Once he felt he was high enough and that they weren't homing he looked down to see the missiles had not exploded. Instead the street was filled with a thick heavy smoke, laced with glittering particles.

"Ah an anti-beam smoke screen. But this means you can't fire your cannons either." Called out Fellini as he began to fire into the smoke with his Vulcans in short bursts but got nothing. As the smoke cleared he saw that Noah was gone and cursed himself for getting caught up in the thought the smoke was a trap.

He was made aware of Noah's position when his cockpit began to blare alarms that he had missiles locked onto him. Spinning around he found 4 large missiles coming his way. They had to be the gunpla equivalent to cruise missiles! Deciding his Vulcans would not be enough he transformed and flew away, leading the missiles after him. Finally he did a barrel roll and transformed back, bringing his buster rifle and charging it to a low powered shot. He watched two missiles try to do his roll and blow up on each other but the other 2 missiles were still coming. He fired the low powered shot and vaporized the missiles.

He then began searching for Noah, now seeing his tactic. He may not have been cloaked but his GN particles made it hard for his system to find him even this high above the ruins. Once more he was alerted to the fact he had missiles coming at him. This time he decided to dive into the ruins, spinning around as he saw half the 24 small missiles following him hit the various ruined buildings but that still left 12 following him. He quickly shot them down with a barrage of rounds from his Vulcans and as he rounded a corner he had to spin around and block another pair of large beams.

This time he was ready, recombining his two rifles before raising them to fire a full charge buster shot at Noah who had maneuvered behind him. He hoped that would end the fight as when he saw it was a space map he had hoped to fight the Gabriel gundam at its best. Fighting in these ruins with the buster panzer…well suffice to say he was not a fan of this cat and mouse.

Sadly when the blast faded away he found he had cleared plenty of ruins…but Noah was nowhere to be seen.

He growled and began looking around only to groan as the reniscita was subjected to a barrage of 6 medium sized missiles from above with only a few seconds worth of warning.

One good thing about his reniscita having a wing gundam for its base model…ballistic weapons didn't exactly do too much to it.

So as the smoke cleared he raised his rifle up and fired another shot as well as his head Vulcans….at nothingness.

The buster panzer was faster than he thought. He looked around and spun around to block another pair of beams. Those…were getting on his nerves. So with that he detached his smaller rifle into his left hand again and as Noah began to booster away fired, managing to catch both cannons with the small pink beam, forcing Noah to detach them and let them explode.

Finally he had hit the damn thing. He boosted forward, capitalizing on the loss of Noah's guns. As he rounded the corner Noah had escaped around he found himself face to face with Noah again, this time with both the busters' standard weapons out at his waist and ready to fire

He decided to try and again end the fight here and now and fired both his smaller rifle and buster rifle. As he did so Noah once again opened his knee panels and fired off an anti-beam smoke screen, causing the buster rifles beam to dissipate faster and allowing him to dodge it but in the process he also managed to collide with the small pink beam that managed to get past the growing smoke screen.

"got ya!" he cried out and thought it was the end but instead as an explosion rocked Noah's area he was met with an unexpected hail of bullets before watching Noah come bursting out of the smoke, missing one of its legs. It seemed Noah was fast enough to disengage his leg before it could chain react. Still this put him at a disadvantage on the ground and Fellini dropped both his buster rifle and beam rifle, detaching the beam saber potion and blocking Noah's shoulder bash on his shield before pushing him back and stabbing at the same shoulder, trying to once e more set of a chain reaction through all the missile pods.

Utilizing the GN drive Noah boosted just out of the path of the beam saber and quickly righted himself. It seemed he knew Fellini aimed to finish this fight and felt the same.

Hovering the buster panzer as it could no longer stand, he quickly combined the busters weapons to form it's hyper beam sniper rifle and fired, Fellini easily side stepping the shot before boosting into another stab at the panzer who just drifted back out of reach.

He stabbed at him again and again, each time missing. Finally he opened up with his Vulcans and he found his met with Noah's…Noah's head CIWs AND new triple barrel mini Vulcans at the waist which Fellini let the reniscita take as he tried to get close again.

Instead Noah backed away in a strong boost before the buster began to glow red. "Shit…it has trans-am?!" he exclaimed as he watched the buster rocket back and around a corner. Naturally Fellini followed only to see Noah with all his remaining missile ports open.

The moment he saw that Fellini switched his acceleration and went into a heavy climb only to hear his alarms blare of incoming missiles. Once again thanking that this was a space map he tried to outpace the missiles and hoped they`d eventually go off on their own.

Instead he watched as Noah rose above him and position himself in front of the fenice reniscita. He was far enough he could easily get a shot off that Fellini would only need to block or dodge but either way he still had the missiles to deal with and one misstep and he'd get caught in the barrage.

He knew Noah had won at this point and smiled. He had outmaneuvered him masterfully and managed to perform a pincer maneuver with his own missiles.

With that thought Noah fired and in an instant a beam from his hyper impulse sniper rifle pierced the cockpit of the reniscita just before a barrage of varying sized missiles hit it in the back.

Suffice to say before the smoke could even settle the match was called and the crowd was cheering. He smiled and watched Noah walk around and hold his hand out which Fellini took. "Good fight my friend. Maybe next time I can try and beat your Gabriel gundam? "he asked and Noah nodded.

"sure…I'm sorry about that…In all honesty I figured you'd find a way to dodge it and come after me." he said, both of them looking to the reniscita which was in shambles due to all the missiles that hit it.

Fellini shrugged. "That's the fun of gunpla battles. You never know what will happen…and you never stop getting better." he said as he scooped up the remains of his gunpla and left, Noah doing the same. Now he had to go finish repairs on the Gabriel.

World tournament part 3

Cosmic era 71, JOSH-A base, date and time unknown

The archangel had just arrived at the main headquarters for the earth alliance, an unexpected turn of events after Heliopolis and their battle in orbit. For this admiralty board…it was also something they were not looking forward to dealing with.

"The archangel. I never thought it'd make it. "Stated one admiral as he looked over the reports they all had copies of from the ships various exploits. The one thing they all were both glad of and upset about was the destruction of EX-caliber. This deep into their base it would be a minor threat…without its pilot.

They could easily have managed to detain Noah, keep him from his mobile suit, offload it, the strike if it had survived, and the blitz and the buster, get the combat data on the gat series and tear apart EX-caliber to learn how it worked. If they had gotten that they would have been put leagues ahead of zaft and those damned coordinators. It would have been Noah's worst nightmare.

"Do you think halberton's force of will protected it?" jested one admiral but for Admiral Sutherland, the leader of this board, this was not a laughing matter. After all…he was the one who would have to inform lord azreal of the destruction and enemy capture of EX-caliber and its remains. The blonde racist would not be pleased.

"No…if that were the case this would be a simple matter. No…this young coordinator, Kira yamato was the one who protected it. "Said Sutherland, the word coordinator laced with venom and disgust. "Yes him and this "Noah Carson", a natural with an unknown mobile suit were the reason she made it all the way here." He stated as he glared at the photos of the two pilots.

"Captain Sutherland don't say it like that. Fortunately with the destruction of the strike and EX-caliber AND the strikes pilot being listed as M.I.A. can be considered a rather…fortunate accident for us." Said the admiral to his left.

"Yes…the gat series will be a strong asset for us and we will get plenty of use out of it in the future. Therefore the last thing we need people knowing is that a coordinator was the only one capable of piloting it….and a teenager at that." He said, again that word came out like he wanted to choke on it or choke the person he was referring too.

"Your right about that." Said another admiral. "It just seems like a blatant sign of our own inferiority." Said another.

"Yes and this…EX-caliber. It makes our own mobile suits look even more inferior. We got lucky if the young man's story is true and that the three other machines they were preparing were destroyed with Heliopolis." Stated Sutherland.

"In regards to that we have sent recon teams to the remains of that colony. We found no signs of that technology or any other possible structures that could have housed them. If they were there then they were the only part of the colony not to simply break apart, they had to have been destroyed likely through explosives placed as a self-destruct counter-measure."

Sutherland nodded. "yes…and the fact it was able to not only disable and capture the blitz, but forced zaft to pull out prototypes which the gat series likely couldn't hold a candle too just yet just means it's destruction is even more of a boon to us than we originally estimated." said Sutherland as he brought up data on the three new gat series prototypes.

"It would have been better if we could have gathered its remains, or even captured the suit itself. That technology...according to the reports that drive on its back powered its armor, propulsion, even provided power to its weapons." Said one admiral who clearly won the captain obvious award.

"Yes and what does that have to do with its capture?" asked Sutherland.

"If we had been able to re-create or even take that drive and put it into even one of our new gat line up it would have given it endless power….it likely would have rivaled the potential of a nuclear powered mobile suit. Imagine that put on our new calamity model…the amount of fire power it would have without the need to worry about battery life…"said the admiral, his words dripping with the desire to see such firepower turned on their enemies.

"And the applications to the raider…that "trans-am" ability…imagine the speed it would have. No coordinator would be able to match it." Stated an admiral who wore quite the mischievous grin.

"Yes yes but the fact is we do not possess it and as such we should not dwell on what could have been." Stated Sutherland as he stopped on the calamity, pondering what they could have done with that technology and how the new biological CPU's would handle it.

"What have you told lord azreal? After all with all this talk of EX-caliber we have already forgotten we have taken what we know of the gat series and already put it in our new line, making the blitz and buster obsolete and this time with them in our hands not zafts."

Sutherland grinned. "I have told him we will take the necessary precautions to handle this. But the fact is he does not yet know we were unable to recover the remains of EX-caliber…he will likely be upset but I will handle It." stated Sutherland as he tapped his papers on the desk to get them in order.

"it all boils down to this all being a unfortunate accident…just like what will happen here….all this for the preservation of our blue and pure world." He stated before they quietly ended the meeting and went back to their daily duties.

World tournament part 3

It had taken most of the night, and he barely made it in time to the arena, but as Noah panted he watched tatsuya yuuki aka meijin Kawaguchi smile as they were both surrounded by the haptic display of the gunpla battle arena. Clearly the meijin knew why Noah was late.

The reason was the brand new, fully finished and with spare parts waiting in his room, Gabriel gundam. When Noah prompted set his GP base down and then the gunpla. Finally he caught his breath and closed his eyes while the system, loaded in the map.

It was a land based map, a military port. Noah frowned. This map just would not do. Good thing he had accessed his zero system files in his GP base and set up a new location for them to fight…

As he launched onto the map Noah found the meijin almost waiting for him in the open roadways of the port. Figuring he wanted to have a quick word before the fight Noah landed across from him and lowered his weapons.

The meijin's amazing red warrior looked…well…amazing. It looked like he had been pretty psyched for this fight and likely spent all night tuning his gunpla just on the off chance he fought Noah's pride and joy.

Sure enough the meijin soon came on over his speakers. "I see you managed to repair your gunpla in time for our fight. I am honored." he stated as the red warrior bowed slightly. This confused Noah.

"Why are you the one who is honored? I get to fight the famed meijin Kawaguchi. I had hoped to fight you at point in the tournament but felt fate would also deny me my fight with sei. I figured it'd be you and me or me and him in the finals." stated Noah as his gunpla bowed as well.

The meijin chuckled. "I have heard rumors about your exploits, why you are using an entirely new type of gunpla, why you returned to gunpla battles in the first place." Said the meijin as he pointed to Noah's Gabriel gundam. "And I dare say not even rumors. Sei himself informed me of your tale, second hand of course but he told me of what you told china and what she has heard from Luke! You Noah Carson…HAVE BREACHED THE FOURTH WALL!" he exclaimed and Noah's eyes went wide.

"I assume that gunpla is your answer to your struggles there. You have surpassed even myself and sei in terms of your knowledge of gunpla battling. You have fought true gundams and come out on top!" he shouted, clearly about to enter somewhat of a mantra of how he felt Noah's journey ion the cosmic era compared to gunpla battles and Noah shook his head and the Gabriel's.

"No no no. I'll stop you right there. I fought the council princess team and Heine in the eft guaiz and something the system I created came up with. And even then I lost." Said Noah which the meijin was quick to reply to.

"Only because you were unable to repair your gunpla! You have reached a level myself and sei could only dream to obtain! You…Noah Carson…ARE A GUNDAM PILOT!" he exclaimed as he put the red warrior hands on its hips. "It is for this reason I am honored to fight you." he stated as the red warrior drew its gun blade.

Noah smiled. He had to admit…the fact the meijin was as honored to fight him as he was…well…it made him want to giggle and shy away like some girl being complimented on by her crush. It was an honor to get such high praise and made his surprise all the more worthy of this fight.

"Then if this fight means so much to you please…allow me to fight at my best…I'm sure your dying to break the fourth wall as well. Let me show you what it is to fight in a gundam." he said as his sword bits broke off from his back and flew around him. The meijin got in a defensive stance but seemed surprised when between them they formed a portal.

"I call it the quantum leap system. It allows me to tap into my zero system and create a localized portal to a gundam universe. It is also the subroutines in my OS that will allow me to finally go back to the cosmic era and save the girl I found there and fell in love with. Please…I promise no harm to your gunpla until you see what I mean." he said, his Gabriel putting away it's sword rifles and raising up to a hover level and floating around to be beside the red warrior as it put away it's gun blade.

The gunpla looked to Noah's and nodded. "It would be my honor to fight you in such a place." With that the red warrior boosted into the portal, dematerializing into red plavsky particles before the meijin's monitors went black.

Noah followed him and soon the audience was sadly given the same sign that Alice saw. "Arena system error: scanned gunpla missing"

World tournament part 3

**After colony 196, colony L3X18999, December 24****th****, sometime before their declaration of independence**

Wufei sat silently in the cockpit of altron custom aka nataku. He was overseeing the preparations for Miss Mariemaia's declaration of independence. He knew his former comrades would show up just as trowa did. But trowa was of no importance even if he knew he was a spy trying to stop the reinstituted plan, operation: meteor.

His true aim was to stop heero and duo from trying to stop them. With wing zero, deathscythe, heavyarms and sandrock all in a trash barge being sent to the sun his nataku was the only gundam in the after colony era to his knowledge. Qautre would put it upon himself to right what he saw as his own wrong and would go retrieve the gundams or try to. Trowa was already here and so that left the nut jobs heero yuy and duo Maxwell to try and stop them since they had no idea trowa was here.

He planned to fight heero…he was the one between them he saw as his rival in this case. The only one with enough skill to handle the zero system and to handle even a Taurus or space Leo that they would likely steal well enough to face him.

But as he watched over the preparations he saw a green flash in the distance and reached out to his controls. Perhaps he was wrong? Had qautre somehow gotten the gundams early and duo had just decloaked to begin his attack?

No that would mean heero's twin buster rifle would be cutting a swath through the Taurus suits already as he swooped in.

Using his main camera he zoomed in on what appeared to be 7 glowing objects that formed a circle, some sort of particles making a field between them.

He was about to call it in, likely send a couple mobile suits to check it out but then he saw something exit the particles…well more a mass of more red particles though these seemed to form a red mobile suit which boosted away but spun around to watch as another, slightly larger mobile suit that was painted red and black. As soon as it formed the objects broke their circle and seemed to latch onto something on its back. Perplexed by these two mobile suits, both clearly not known models and two very different designers if the particles coming off the second one's shoulders when the other one showed no particles had anything to say about it, wufei sat back in his cockpit, for now deciding to see what they did as they clearly had no intention…so far at least no intention of coming towards the colony.

World tournament part 3

**After colony 196, just off colony L3X18999, December 24****th****, sometime before their declaration of independence**

Meijin looked around as his monitors came back to life. While he could barely hear the crowd watching…well not watching this match outside his cockpit he was in awe of just where he was. The moment he exited he saw a colony in the distance…a wing gundam series colony. So this wasn't the cosmic era then.

Just as he came to this conclusion he spun around and saw Noah's model form and the portal closed. He smiled. This was amazing. To his knowledge never once had a space based gunpla arena field produced an A.C. shaped colony which was one of the most different ones compared to the plants hourglass figure or the tube shapes of the universal century and cosmic era. This was his first indication Noah was not lying. The second was the fact his arm rakes, while still free and as flawless as usual had some weight to them.

Noah seemed content to wait and let him take everything in so he raised his gunpla's arm and looked it over. It had ice on it…ICE. Again this was not normally simulated in gunpla battle. He also could tell just by looking at the Gabriel gundam that the gunpla were no longer such, not really. The size difference they had a moment ago with his being a 1/144th scale custom high grade and Noah's being a 1/100th scale master grade he had a slight size difference when in the arena. Now they were of similar height, which he estimated the real gundams would be.

Finally Noah spoke. "I assume by now you`ve realized where we are and are not going to freak out that I stole your gundam or changed the field?" he asked as he drew his GN sword rifles from his back.

The red warrior nodded and brought up the gun blade once more and smiled. Just as he was about to begin the fight Noah quickly held up both blades in an X defensive stance but also shouted, "Wait! Before we start you have to know. I haven't exactly cleared this area. Since I have not experienced this era and therefore have to go off the anime files I have we are technically in the middle of endless waltz. It was the best place I could find where we wouldn't have mobile suits on us nor would we risk being found by the earth alliance of the cosmic era. Speaking of which while I know GN particles are able to work there I am still unsure of a non-GN powered mobile suit. I did not want us to show up there and suddenly your gunpla powers down due to the n-jammers killing your nuclear reactor." Stated Noah in one long explanation.

"What does this all mean? Just where are we?" he asked and Noah answered by pointing a rifle over to the nearby colony.

"That is colony L3X18999. Mariemaia's colony. From what I believe I grabbed coordinate wise for both time and place she has yet to make her declaration of war and such. SO…we may get an actual gundam joining us if wufei see's us as a threat or we may even have some Taurus suits joining our fight. So be ready in case that happens." He said and then got ready once more.

The thought of actually fighting a gundam pilot had the meijin grinning and almost wanting to offer to concede the match just to go fight him. It was like he was a child again and he was having his passion for gunpla re-ignited. But he knew he also wished to fight Noah and his Gabriel, to see if the skills of someone to actually experience both gunpla battle and actual fights with actual gundams were on par with an actual gundam pilot. In a passing last childish thought he pondered perhaps inching towards the colony and issuing g a silent challenge to the Chinese gundam pilot.

With determination in his voice the meijin stated, "Understood…now. Let us fight!" he shouted and launched at the Gabriel, bringing his gunblade across for a diagonal upward slash towards Noah's right shoulder but Noah blocked it and the battle began in earnest.

World tournament part 3

**After colony 196, colony L3X18999, December 24****th****, sometime before their declaration of independence**

Wufei watched the two mobile suits and watched one point toward the colony. Initially his hands jumped to his controls, ready to launch and combat these new machines. But when they then began to fight each other he sat back, confused. Why would they fight? Were they not here to try and stop mariemaia's plans? Did they even know of the coming conflict? Either way it didn't matter. He began to inform his superiors of the development and see just what to do about it.

While he waited he watched them, deciding to see if he could gain some insight to the two machines that he was watching in case he was ordered to attack.

World tournament part 3

**((ok…not posting it again, if you can't look back up and figure out where they are then maybe you should jump down to the end and wait for my next chapter…))**

Noah was grinning ear to ear as the meijin backed off from his third attempt to break Noah's defense and get a hit on him. The gunpla battle legend launched a group of missiles at him from the skirt armor launchers and Noah brought his GN buster swords forward to block them before blocking the meijin's gunblade.

Finally the meijin decided to try a new tactic and as their blades met Noah saw his launch swung up under his sword arm and extend, preparing to fire. This time Noah boosted back and as the hyper bazooka fired what apparently had been an ammunition change when Noah went to slice the rocket in half/block it and instead found himself throwing his left GN sword rifle aside before it exploded. The beam round then hit his waist and he cursed as he also had to throw away his now damaged GN short sword kai before IT exploded.

With two of his enemy's weapons gone the meijin launched another offensive, unable to deny it he loved the rush he was feeling with each simple movement of his arm rakes. He could feel the weight of the machine, the shake of each arm as Noah countered. This…THIS was gunpla battle re-defined.

And the thought of wufei coming and interrupting them…well…suffice to say he was glad he was the meijin and therefore if the ref's were to call the match due to their gunpla missing and no one being able to see it he could easily over-ride them to a degree and suggest a rematch with new gunpla.

He would not trade this battle for anything.

As Noah once more blocked his blade he again brought his hyper beam bazooka up again and this time fired two projectiles before opening the two 3 tube missile launchers in his chest and firing them. Normally he found this tactic of overwhelming his enemies with such high amounts of firepower to be tasteless but Noah had such an equal level of defense and offense he needed it to break his defense.

Sadly Noah took advantage of his gundams speed and boosted back, throwing up a GN field to block all the rounds before dropping it, drawing his GN long sword kai and activating its rifle mode, unleashing a hail of red death from both the sword rifle and long sword.

Meijin boosted to the right, watching Noah's trail of particle rounds follow him before the GN drive powered suit boosted towards him and took a downward slash at him. He once more boosted away and raised his left arm, firing a small barrage from his shield mounted chain guns. This caused Noah to bring his buster swords to block and gave him an opening to bring up his long beam chain gun.

When Noah brought the massive blades back to his side it was meijin's turn to open up on him, watching Noah block a few rounds with both blades before having to ditch them both and boosted up which he followed.

He was surprised by the fact they were so evenly matched. Well...to a point. Clearly Noah was a master at building gunpla now and had certainly made an amazing gunpla...but it was not a gunpla meant for fighting in gunpla battles.

The Gabriel he could feel was built to do what the gundam wing pilots did…to take on the world and beat down entire armies. In a one on one fight though it was too evenly balanced and the way it was balanced left Noah with multiple openings if one employed the right weapons and tactics.

Also without a solid shield the gunpla was not very defensively sound if one could get him to open his buster swords.

Now out of small blades to fight with Noah reached down and grabbed both his katar's while the meijin made his mental notes on the gunpla he was using. As he watched him Noah surprised the meijin by forming the GN shield 2 with them before grabbing one of his buster swords of his GN drives. This perplexed the meijin even further. Wouldn't this make him unbalanced? Wouldn't…

He was brought out of his musings though not by Noah but just as the aforementioned gunpla battler had mentioned might happen, both units were finding themselves having to dodge or block a dragon fang.

As the massive green weapons retracted they both turned to wufei, which had both ends of his beam trident lit and seemed more the prepared to fight them…even if the Gabriel outclassed it purely by right of its GN drives giving it better mobility then even wing zero…well the TV version. Wing zero "custom" would be on par but had less armaments.

The meijin looked to Noah and was unsure how to play this out. After all he was still unsure if they would alter the endless waltz timeline if they outright destroyed wufei or if this was just some computer file that Noah could delete and act like nothing happened.

World tournament part 3

Wufei had watched the two fight and fight and had begun itching to fight them, mostly because they were new opponents and fought clearly on a similar level to himself and the other gundam pilots.

The one with particles coming of its shoulders seemed to rival heero when it came to handling a mobile suit…no their uniqueness made them gundams…either way the way it moved reminded him of heero's fighting style almost, the spin's rapid boosts back and forth, the firing a few shots before either letting the enemy close in or closing in with his own speed to take it to CQB before backing off.

Finally dekim himself came back on his monitor, wanting photos of the new machines, clearly upset by their presence. So he sent them the data he had gathered and quickly got his orders…

**ENGAGE AND CAPTURE OR DESTROY BOTH SUITS**

With that the eyes of nataku flashed to life and he boosted off the top of the colony, heading towards them.

Seeing the match was starting to become one sides as the red suit caught onto the others fighting style he decided his best bet was to separate them. With that he targeted them both with his dragon fangs and launched them.

He smirked when he succeeded at not only separating them but getting their attention. Deciding to try and at least know who he was fighting as their skill level denoted they at least deserved that respect he activated his external speakers while the dragon fangs returned to him and he activated both sides of his beam trident.

"This is wufei change of mariemaia's personal guard. Identify yourself and your reason for being here!" he exclaimed as he gripped his controls, ready to fight them if they decided to not show the same respect and attack him.

The two suits looked at each other and the red one seemed to wave. "I am meijin kawaguchi, third to be given the name, and a master of gunpla battling." He stated before bowing. It seemed one of them had manners. But what was this gunpla battle?

He turned his attention to the other one and waited. This one seemed to need to think of his words…or was planning how to take them both at once…

"I am Noah Carson, designer of the Gabriel gundam and leader to celestial being. We are an armed organization who own the mobile weapons known as gundams…from another universe. This will sound strange but we mean you no harm wufei. We are merely here to have a friendly sparring match." he stated and instantly regretting mentioning celestial being being an armed organization.

"So then this celestial being is here to stop Miss Mariemaia's or are you here to join us?" asked wufei, turning his attention to the glowing one. The fact he was with an armed organization worried the Chinese pilot.

"Neither. Like I said we are just here to have a friendly sparring match. When we are done we will be on our way home." Stated Noah but he swiftly had to raise his shield to block yet another dragon fang before as he lowered it he parried a beam trident with his GN buster sword.

In truth alone, him and the meijin could easily eliminate wufei, but he wasn't sure how permanent that may be…

Thankfully the meijin seemed intent on not letting wufei ruin their match as he boosted into the power struggle and pinged the nataku with some rounds from his head Vulcan, drawing wufei to him and finding himself dodging another dragon fang.

That was Noah's main concern. The meijin relied on his skill to fight, all he had for a shield was his small arm shield. If nataku got ahold of his gunpla with its dragon fangs it was game over. They weren't dealing with qautre who would offer a surrender option to them.

but at the same time it also meant if the red warrior got destroyed here while it'd just be a floating toy it still would be lost to the after colony era.

With that in mind Noah pushed wufei back and placed his buster sword back on his shoulder, boosting back to dodge another stab with the trident before another dragon fang came his way. He blocked it with his buster sword and let it hit it and slide up above his gunpla along the large blade.

Noah now also had a third issue, this one pertaining to his gunpla. The moment he fired his GN buster sword 2's rifle mode he either had to fire it like it was a buster rifle or a sniper rifle. It was his heavy weapon. And the moment he did either he'd draw Taurus suits to them as the blast would either hit one with a long range sniper beam that wufei dodged or the size of his charged blast would draw concern from the colony.

And with his smaller weapons destroyed by the meijin he found himself biting his lip…till he remembered his GN katar's. it wasn't perfect…but he quickly had them in their katar blade setting on both hands and boosted over to wufei who was trying to get rid of or disable the meijin first, his lack of a shield likely making him seem weaker.

Clearly the meijin was holding strong, blocking trident stabs but also managing to evade his dragon fangs. Noah planned to do something that he had not thought to try but had somewhat wanted to while he was in the cosmic era. He hoped to god this worked.

As he charged wufei the Chinese pilot quickly spun around to meet him, blocking a hail of beam chain gun fire on one arm while using the trident to block Noah's multiple stabs with the katar's. Seeing an opening during one of those stabs he pushed Noah back, launched one dragon fang at the red warrior and made a diagonal slash at the Gabriel gundam.

The gundam wing pilot smirked as he watched his beam trident dig into his opponent's torso and watched sparks fly from the gap. He had noticed that Noah was holding back though, he saw the large swords being used as shields and wanted to know if the foreign pilot could wield them properly like swords as he had originally seen him moving to do before he attacked. Then there were the rifle things he saw on his back. Why was he not using those?

It didn't matter. The gundam fell back likely to handle issues in his cockpit but instead of pushing to finish him he turned on the red gundam, pressing the attack and trying to find an opening but this opponent was strong, and even if his gundam was somewhat inferior in design, in wufei's opinion at least, to any of him or his comrades gundams, he knew how to utilize everything it had to both defend and attack with precision and grace.

As wufei focused on his attack though he didn't notice Noah coming back for a second attempt at his plan and for all three of them everything seemed to go to slow motion.

For wufei he finally found an opening in the red gundams defense and launched a close in dragon fang. The fang found purchase on the red warrior's waist and as it began to push it further as well as crush the machine it stopped.

For the meijin he watched as this happened while he had run into a trowa moment…all hid ammo was gone and it startled him to give that momentary opening. He was unsure what would happen when his gunpla was destroyed…but to have had this chance…it would be worth losing it.

Instead as he accepted the loss and began planning a new gunpla the dragon fang stopped and he looked to wufei. While the Chinese pilot had focused on fighting him he had not seen Noah come up behind him in trans-am and jam both his katar's into nataku's shoulders. A product likely of the radar and electronics jamming effect the GN particles had.

So as the green gundam floated in space, unable to do much he watched as Noah capitalized on wufei's likely outburst of rage and his GN sword bits broke off and flew out and around behind his red warrior. From there Noah used his trans-am to drag himself, wufei, and the meijin's red warrior through the portal before it closed with him going through immediately after the nataku, the red warrior barely being dragged in before the meijin could even react and boost through.

With the odd, amazing, glorious…just all around epic match finished he watched as his monitors came back online and they were once again in the port. He saw nataku, its dragon fang tying them together still, laying between him and the Gabriel gundam standing…well…sort of…the GN drives were barely producing particles, the eyes had dimmed…it seemed ready to die.

He looked down to his gunpla and as he tried to reach down and pry open the dragon fang he found his arms unable to move.

Finally the arena system called out. "**BATTLE ABORTED!"** and he was confused…till he saw one of the gunpla battle refs standing by the emergency shutdown switch.

"Whose gunpla is this?!" he shouted, pointing to the nataku gundam. It then donned on the meijin…Noah had pulled wufei through with them! He raced to a point around the arena he could reach the gunpla and grabbed them but had to let go instantly. For starters he touched the nataku and instantly his hands were burning, like he had just touched dry ice even with his gloves.

Upon closer inspection the nataku wasn't even plastic. It was made of metal. Second though he had went to grab his red warrior and it was almost as cold, but still plastic. Again it was Ice cold. Further proof they had not been in the arena system.

"I asked you both a question! Who's gunpla is this?" asked the referee as he went to grab the nataku and instantly pulled his hand away, the tell-tale signs of burns instantly setting in. "what the hell?" he muttered before the meijin heard Noah call for a medic and run over.

The two of them stared at the tangled mess until a few other famous fighters ran up to see just what had happened. The moment Mao walked up the meijin turned to him. "Mao…I may break them in the process…but do you have a pair of tweezers on you?" he asked, knowing the man had once carried a modeling kit on him at all times.

Mao nodded and handed them to him. With the long modeling tweezers and a determined look on his face the meijin reached over and grabbed a link of the dragon fang. The moment he did the tips of the tweezers bonded to it and froze, but still as the entire thing began to freeze from how cold the dragon fang he swiftly dragged the metal gundam to them. There was one thins he HAD to know and as he glanced to Noah and saw a worried look…he knew Noah had to know as well.

As more refs ran up with the medics, concerned of foul play he quickly held up his hands before questions could begin flying. "ALL WILL BE EXPLAINED ION TIME! I NEED SILENCE!" He shouted as he bent down as close as he could to the model. Sadly breaking the tweezers, or what he could, he used the remains to poke and prod the cockpit section till he found the hatch. With a grunt he opened the top half…then lowered the bottom.

What they found inside…was amazing. The level of detail…it was like Noah had LITERALLY pulled the nataku through. But what he and Noah wish to know…was what became of wufei.

Confident he wasn't missing any small yells of curses from wufei somehow being minturized and still alive, he grabbed what was a soft figure inside and gently pulled it out.

The first thing that jumped to them all was the perfect detailing. It was literally a miniature wufei…and since he WASN'T still thawing from the temperatures of space the meijin set him down and this time poked him with his finger.

Again no screams of yells, no movement…but the limp figure also wasn't plastic. Instead as he gently picked up the miniature pilot and gently rubbed him between his fingers the best thing he could compare the material too…well was normal clothing materiel. And as he gently pinched his arms it was like touching some form of silicone. He felt no bones, felt no skeletal structure in general.

"Exacto knife. "He said simply, all eyes enraptured by his musings as Mao handed him said blade. Being careful not to potentially poke the wrong place he pricked the small wufei gently on the leg, what would have been a 50 caliber bullet sized wound in size comparison, was a pin prick with the tip of the knife. When no fluids, blood, melted tissue or whatever the meijin stood up. And handed everything back to the new master of the legendary gunpla building school.

He then turned to Noah and nodded. "He's not real…whatever happened to him though…the fabric of his uniform is real, but his skin…his body…it's…well…the best comparison of material is the cyber skin used on high end adult toys." he said bluntly which got a few odd looks back and forth between the two.

"So we didn't commit murder? Well I didn't" asked Noah and the meijin smiled and nodded.

"Yes…you did not kill him." he stated before turning to the confused ref's. "Noah Carson was showing me his new technology, how he performed his "beam transfer" technique in the survival round and a…mishap came about as we continued our match in this technological breakthrough. Please, disregard this match and give us two hours to prepare fresh gunpla and to allow those to warm up so they can be removed. That or someone get hazmat gloves. Either way those gunpla are unsuitable for a rematch. It will happen today though! Can we agree on this?" he asked. Too confused to argue with the great meijin Kawaguchi the referee's nodded and made the call, telling people the fights would continue in two hours.

Once the stadium began to clear the meijin looked back to the three…no 2 gunpla and the miniaturized gundam. If they cracked it open…well more than the cockpit…would it be plastic? Or would they find the makings of a small gundam? The questions burned in his mind and he almost dared risk the third degree burns to break off the dragon fang from his amazing red warrior just to see what happened to the fangs.

Either way everyone left the arena and went about preparing the next round, no one daring touch the gunpla icicles.

**World tournament part 3**

"**Reality" 2 hours after the fight in the AC era.**

Noah bit his lip as he stood in front of everyone. Everyone being sei, Fellini, Mao, Nils, and a pair of gunpla ref's who had their phones out with 911 dialed but not called. He was in big trouble if he didn't say the right thing.

Behind them…well behind everyone but Nils sat the massive gunpla battle system that was the main stage for the finals. On it sat the gundam nataku, torn apart…well not torn but it was certainly disassembled. That was where it came back to him being in trouble.

Nils had been carefully disassembling it after they realized it was not only not metal but it was not a metal from their earth. Of course half an hour ago the stand had refilled mostly and the crowd was ready for the rematch between Noah and the meijin. Around this time the gunpla had been deemed "warm enough" after the deep freeze they went through that they wouldn't break at the slightest touch and Nils was working on nataku with special gloves on.

As Noah and tatsuya grabbed their gunpla though Nils had shouted that they needed to clear the stadium and to quarantine the people who had been closest to the stage when Noah and the meijin stopped their fight. That was everyone here.

The source of the panic was the small cylinder that was resting in the back of nataku.

Knowing that the wing series machines had a micro fission reactor for a power source and having heard both Noah AND the meijin claim it was the real nataku nil's had had a Geiger counter on hand and active in case the machine had not simply shrunk and become a model and instead literally shrunk but was still a gundam.

Sadly Nils had found out the hard way that the small machine was in fact a working gundam. After pulling apart small wires, having to cut through a few panels to get to the core of the "model" to examine it his Geiger counter went insane the moment he pulled a small circular housing off the now visible cylinder. It became even worse when once the stadium was empty aside from them he put the meter up to the cylinder and it nearly broke the meter.

The nataku gundam…WAS the nataku gundam!

"Well…did you plan to bring nuclear weaponry into the stadium or not?" asked a ref. if they didn't believe him Noah would be labeled a terrorist and arrested.

"Was this an attempt at a terrorist bombing?" asked the other ref as he tapped his foot. The wires. The metal housing, the fact no one saw the nataku attack them, and no one believed the meijin when he tried to defend Noah and had actually had the refs starting to think he was in league with Noah…it all looked like an attempt to bring a gunpla shaped nuclear bomb through his quantum leap system.

Noah finally shook his head. "No…it wasn't a terrorist attack. I didn't even plan to bring the nataku here!" he shouted, his nerves getting the best of him as he threw his arms up. "Why can't you believe me? I have never brought a gundam back through that system. Hell that's only the second time I've used that system. I didn't even know it would work!" he shouted as he groaned.

Finally Nils walked around them all and up to Noah, putting his hand on his shoulder. Noah looked into the man's eyes with sorrow. He didn't wanna go to jail, or be executed or whatever before he even got to save Nina. Nils looked back and smiled. "Do you have any way to prove this? Prove this isn't a bomb?" he asked as he looked back at the disassembled war machine.

Noah shrugged. "I have an idea…but it would require the system I'm working on to be finished and for me to have access to it AND for me or someone else to…well to make contact with one of the pilots and try to get them to let us bring their gundam through." he stated as Nils was pulled back by the refs.

"You mean you need to use a system like that one again? No way in hell! If you can't prove this is a terrorist bomb then we need to cancel the finals and let the authorities figure this out." Stated a ref as he hit the call button on his phone but when he went to put the phone to his ear Riccardo Fellini took it and hung up, causing everyone to gasp.

"Noah…do you have to be the one to use the system?" he asked as he gave the ref back his phone. Noah shook his head. The Italian dandy smiled at this.

"By make contact with one of the pilots…do you mean somehow actually interact with them through the gunpla system? And if so what if they were to turn into that stuff like wufei did?" asked the meijin, his own interest peaked at what Fellini was insinuating.

Noah again shook his head. "no. someone would have to use my simulator I'm working on at home, use my new programing to break the fourth wall and leave their gundam and physically talk to the pilot. I`m not sure what happened to wufei so I won't risk them just coming through in their gundam." he stated as he closed his eyes. This would be a way to test his theory…but…if it didn't work…

What he was suggesting made them all gasp. To actually talk to the pilots? Hell to actually talk pilot a gundam? A moment later they were all smiling.

"And…what series would you want us to use?" asked Nils as he cupped his chin in his hand in thought.

Noah shrugged. "Any I guess. Aside from most of the cosmic era mobile suits…gundams are all powered by one form of a fission reactor or another…well except the gundams in 00. But…to really prove it's not a bomb you`d likely wanna talk to qautre or duo. Or even trowa. Any of them would be glad to help us sort this out even if it meant sacrificing their gundam." said Noah but he had reluctance in his voice.

Fellini raised an eyebrow at this. "You sound like you have a preference. Or like you have doubts even." He stated as he thought about taking the fenice reniscita into the wing series.

Noah again shook his head. "No no…I'm just…I'm wondering if maybe I could move my simulation that I…recorded further along and we could try to talk to Kira during the peace times in the cosmic era. Not only do I already have a history with them but he knows me and…well murrue at least KINDA knows about gunpla. They didn't believe me though for the same reason as you're not believing me now. It had/has never been done. A gundam made from a plastic model. How crazy does that sound? As crazy as breaking the fourth wall and bringing an actual gundam back." He said which made them all nod in understanding. Even the refs. Who'd believe any of this?

Still Fellini wasn't exactly satisfied. "Yes but that doesn't exactly sound like all of it." He stated. Noah nodded. "Yes. There is also the fact that to ensure that their specific gundam timeline, which we would ruin with our entrance at that point, is not too damaged I'd want the pilot to come with us to also ensure that even if I saved that time line in the form of data that we wouldn't jump back to our insertion point with the intent on bringing his gundam back only for him to have a new one and not know us. That's where using Kira would be better. If he didn't come with us he won't be any worse off without the freedom nor will he care. At the same time I intend to go back sooner then we'd be inserting and he would never lose the freedom in the first place. I mean it's your call…well whoever does it can make the call, but they need to come back with us. "he said and a ref rose their hand and growled.

"Why do you keep saying we? You think you're going? Again why would we…" the ref began to berate Noah but Nils stopped him. "I'll go…I'm assuming you have 2 forms of transport already? "He asked. Noah nodded and Nils did as well in response.

"it`s settled then. While the tournament finishes I will use whatever notes you may have on this simulation system to finish it and prepare it for a trial run. And as the organizer of this tournament I declare this incident dealt with. Let the crowds back in…we need to finish this tournament. Noah and the meijin will have a rematch, timed at 15 minutes, can you both agree to this? "He asked as he put his arms in his sleeves, his lab coat mimicking his old battling uniform.

The two fighters grinned and nodded. As the group dispersed and Nils prepared to gather the nataku a ref grabbed his arm gently. "Sir…I realize you're the guy who will be signing my check and paying for this tournament but...what if you're wrong?" he asked

Nils shrugged. "I'll be sure to put the nataku in a place where it will do the least harm should it self-destruct." He said with a smile before returning to the task at hand.

The ref growled and walked off.

World tournament 3

**Still reality guys…staying here unless stated otherwise...**

Noah flexed his fingers on the control orbs of the gunpla battle arena. It was a simple rematch. He had to keep telling himself that. This wasn't the finals. He still had to win here. But he was worried about what happened earlier. He had had to give Nils his address, his entire living room/lab would be moved to Nils's lab where he would finish building the second cockpit. Then he'd work on running strictly computer simulations to see about Noah going back in general but now also for him AND a second pilot to go back and find someone to give them their gundam. Basically he was leaving the finishing touches on his system to Nils.

Of course he warned him of the zero system and its apparent sentience. He also warned him not to try it without him there. The last thing he needed was Nils going in with his sengoku astray and getting stuck like he had.

Finally as the arena launched him he came back to the here and now. It was a fight between kampfers, the meijin deciding to use his kampfer amazing while Noah was using his kampfer elite.

The kampfer elite was one of his models used to test certain aspects of the gundams he built for celestial being as well as the Gabriel gundam.

The kampfer elite was, like most of his gunpla, was completely black. The antennae was slightly longer, thicker, and curved back more against his dead. The forearms were thick, triple barrel machine guns like the one Alex used to bring the kampfer down were hidden within.

On the racks on its back instead of bazooka's he had upgraded from a pair of shotgun's…he loved that part of the kampfer, but he upgraded to a pair of assault rifles from a couple new graze models. These rifles were hastily built prior to the battle to counter the meijin's amazing rifle and the fact he had built the kampfer to be very much a CQB machine but also to be fast…very fast.

At its waist sat two more shotguns…what could he say he loved the kampfers shotgun. But between the two shotguns sat a pair of machete's, serrated back and all. Finally on both legs sat large grey…bricks. Looking like undetailed missile pods one would assume they were just that…an unfinished piece. But inside them sat two chain mine whips, ready for Noah to use or lay as a trap at any time.

As he landed he saw that the map was that of a naval base. Knowing that the kampfer amazing was rated to be just as powerful underwater as on land he decided to enter hover mode and began silently searching the base, drawing both assault rifles and getting ready for anything.

A few minutes later he had to boost to the side to dodge a flurry of green beams. He turned around to find the kampfer amazing right on his tail. It seemed it had been tuned and set up for speed. That was obvious.

As meijin raised his beam sub machine guns Noah raised his assault rifles and as they weaved back and forth amongst buildings he was shown just how accurate the meijin could be as for every bullet he fired, the same round was intercepted by a beam.

His kampfer elite had to dive behind a building when he heard his rifles click empty. Growling he threw down the rifles and as the kampfer amazing came around the corner he raised his left arm and the triple barrel machine gun popped out, quickly spitting out a hail of deadly depleted uranium rounds. Quickly blocking with his arms the meijin backed back around the corner but one of his sub machine guns was caught with a round and Noah smiled when the dark blue machine disappeared in the smoke of its exploding weapon.

Knowing the meijin would only need a moment to get a weapon from one of its cases he closed his left arm and drew one of his shotguns, flooring it after him and quickly pumping off a pair of shells without even aiming.

As he finally looked to the kampfer amazing he quickly found himself throwing his new shot gun away as a beam pierced it and he boosted forward and away, spinning around with his left arm raised once more to see the kampfer holding his amazing beam rifle.

The kampfer was quick to take aim once more but he had to boost to the left and off his rooftop perch to avoid another hail of bullets.

This battle was much faster paced and adrenaline fueled as when the meijin landed he found himself face to face with Noah's other shot gun. Barely having time to move he boosted back and around another corner to try and get away from Noah but his right arm got caught in a shotgun blast and he found himself surrounded by smoke as his model was rocked by the explosion of his right arm.

Noah capitalized on this and as the meijin backed up out of the cloud it soon was pierced by even more bullets. Growling at how he disliked this position he found himself in the boosted to the left and flew away, rounding another corner as Noah came through the smoke, both arms raised.

Noah looked around, trying to figure out just where the legendary fighter had gone. This battle was intense. It made Noah feel like he was back in the cosmic era. Suddenly Noah's world began to go dark and he looked around before finally looking up just in time to find himself boosting back to dodge the meijin who spun around and in his remaining arm was the same chain gun he used to be the Renaldo brothers. Quickly it spun up and Noah found himself trying to out run the torrent of bullets the massive gun spat out. Finally one of his rear thrusters took a couple rounds and as it exploded Noah found himself tumbling, half his right leg gone.

Groaning he found he was on his stomach and as he rolled onto his back him again found the meijin airborne and aiming to land atop him. Quickly he reached down and activated the handle on the chain mine and as it burst from its case he timed it perfectly so when he swung his right arm up and the whip, each mine found purchase on the chain gun and the last one landed on the kampfer amazing hand.

Before the mines could dig in and activate though the mighty meijin let go of the gun and instead the last mine gripped the handle.

The mines quickly activated shortly after and exploded till the meijin landed a short ways away from Noah and the remains of the chain gun landed around him.

Meijin Kawaguchi was not one to lose easily…but his kampfer wasn't exactly up to date in terms of care and tuning. So he wasn't surprised he was where he was at but still….as he ejected his last full weapons container. He glanced to Noah who was having a hard time finding his balance as he stood. Noah wouldn't need much longer but the lack of half his right leg and no foot obviously he would not be moving too well for a moment.

Tatsuya opened the container as he heard Noah boost somewhere and carefully hefted the 4 tube missile launcher onto his left shoulder. Once he was sure he'd be able to fire ok he turned to see Noah balancing himself carefully on a nearby building. It was clear this was where they would end things.

In truth he was at a small disadvantage with the fact all he had left were his heat plates, his knives, head Vulcans, and this missile launcher. But at least he had stable footing. He boosted to the left barely as Noah raised his left arm and tried firing a barrage of bullets only to find the slight recoil being enough to have him stumbling around like a novice on an ice rink.

Meijin chuckled and raised the missile launcher, waiting for a lock on before he let loose the four missiles. He didn't expect them to hit, after all Noah still had his head Vulcans even if he couldn't fire his machine guns. To his surprise though Noah didn't just shoot them down. Instead he reached down and withdrew a second chain mine whip and swung it out, quickly whipping it back down then up once more to form an N line in front of him for a few seconds.

It was all he needed as the missiles impacted the chain mines…well all but one. Still the explosions would likely knock Noah back so the meijin found himself feeling a b it…confident that he had beaten Noah so he began to hover towards the massive cloud of smoke.

Drawing his knife he got ready to finish Noah but was surprised when he had to boost back to dodge a forward thrust from one of Noah's machetes. He looked at the kampfer elite, now missing an arm of its own, the left one, but also the head pretty heavily damaged at well. It seemed Noah was going to go down swinging. No matter.

As Noah used his thrusters to keep himself up right the meijin blocked a few swings from the machete and dodged a few more. He knew this was is for Noah…and knew what this fight meant for him. No…not this fight this tournament. So for now he let him continue to swing at him….till finally Noah's machete collided with his knife once more and he found himself struggling with Noah. The boy seemed to be trying to push this swing. It was a diagonal, downwards slash and he found himself having to really fight Noah.

Growling he finally slipped, his remaining arm swinging out to the side…but so did Noah's blade! Rather than pull back from the attack Noah continued through it…only to throw the blade! The meijin was confused till he found himself raising his arm to block a flurry of rounds fired from Noah's head Vulcans.

What was Noah's strategy? This confused him even more as he lowered his arm to see Noah just standing where he was. No motion, maneuvering thrusters keeping him upright. He was so confused till as he began to lower his knife and prepare to check and make sure Noah was ok he found his screen filled with Noah's fist.

The kampfer staggered back and he got another blow to the gut, then again to the head. What was Noah planning?! His answer came when what should have been another punch to the gut the meijin found his model being speared by a machete. Still this wasn't entirely enough to finish him and so he dug his knife into Noah's neck.

It was then it donned on him….not only had Noah not let go of the machete…but his arm Vulcans…clearly the left one likely had not only run out of ammo but was now gone…but the right one was barely fired! He smirked, Noah had used the confusion of his bizarre tactics distract the meijin before…

"**Battle ended!"**

Called the arena system as Noah used his hold on the machete as an anchor point and the wrist gun opened up and unloaded on the kampfer amazing at point blank range.

As the arena powered down the meijin could hear the crowd cheering. Everyone loved the match. He watched Noah walk around and hold out his hand. Tatsuya smiled and took it, shaking Noah's hand with a huge grin on his face. "Thank you Noah for the chance to fight you. It has been an honor and a privilege to be your opponent. And if you ever meet wufei…tell him the same goes for him." stated the meijin

Noah nodded. "The same goes for you. Even Fellini barely matched it but you…fighting you I felt like I was back in the cosmic era. Thank you for reminding me what that rush was like." he stated with a smile before they both began to collect their models.

_**World tournament 3**_

**Ok…so…this is the last time I'm posting this chapter. I`m sorry, I really am…but I just feel I can barely do fights justice given how most of my writing skill comes from role playing and so writing fights like these especially is hard for me. So to me….to try and write sei fighting Noah…I don't know I just feel like I can't do it justice. **

**SO! Unless I change something or you guys end up preferring a fight without wufei or the alternate Nina scene then this is the last time I'll be posting this chapter so I can finally finish chapter 2…yeah…only chapter 2 guys for tempering a blazing soul. Gotta finish it cause as much as I wanna please you guys and keep this going I technically need to work on that fiction more so I can get it over with. Plus those chapters will be shorter and easier to fire off and the story itself will be short. **

**ANYWAYS! Also another reason my fight writing skills feel lacking is I read nemesis' latest chapter…holy fuck…dude…I am glad to even be trying to work on the same plotline as you. I mean really I think if you and I role played out each of these fights and I hashed them together into a proper story style writing I think they would be so much better. **

**So yeah…also realized while I have changed a lot of things with Noah's participation in the bloody valentine conflict…most of what I wrote fell in line with the series and wasn't super original…well not as much as I hoped. So no…I'm not revamping the whole story…just letting you all know I'm gonna try and not have that happen after the next chapter as that one's nearly done.**

**With all that said…I wish you all had a happy holidays and hope you have enjoyed each portion of this chapter. Time to go finish the entrance for the Gabriel. **

**ALLLONS-Y! And yes…my girlfriend has me hooked on the good doctor.**


	17. operation meteor

OPERATION: METEOR

"_Operation meteor: that's what they called the gundams descent to earth. But it was initially something completely different. The rotation of a colony is increased, then the balancing mechanism is destroyed at the La Grange point hurling the colony towards earth. As this causes chaos on earth the gundams are sent in to take over. That's the general outline of the original operation meteor." – Trowa Barton/no-name explains operation meteor in gundam wing endless waltz._

Nils wiped his brow of sweat as he stood up from his desk and personal computer to see Noah walk in with what he had learned was a legitimate cosmic era flight suit, a black and red suit apparently given to him by the archangel's captain.

When confronted with the need to use his labs computers for this endeavor he had been skeptical, mostly because it all sounded like nonsense. Crossing dimensions…well no, more accurately breaking the forth wall LITERALLY…and then to be in space, piloting a gundam, meeting the crew of the archangel…

The possibilities of this technology was as revolutionary as the plavsky particles themselves. And now he had learned Noah's ability to "capture" his own beams through a GN portal with his GN sword bits was him doing just that, but using the cosmic era as a medium to transport the beam to another area of the arena's map.

And now Noah had asked him for a large battle arena. The purpose…so Nils and the other 7th world championship fighters could join him through the arena for various battles. Now his two completed cockpit set ups were linked to an arena, one slowly powering up and readying to load a virtual version of Noah's simulation.

How this worked is wherever Noah's Gabriel gundam was the map would change too. Holographic ships, mobile suits, buildings…basically the arena's field would BE the simulation, with targets made of plavsky particles so they could watch like some sort of strategy map in a sci-fi movie.

When they launched into it though it would change for them to a standard gunpla battle field where they could fight as if it was a match against the computer AI except they would be breaking the fourth wall and each simulated target would be piloted by…well…some random nameless…well to them, nameless pilot obviously of varying skill.

Noah looked to him and reached into one of the cockpits' setting a bag down that held supplies and gifts for people in the cosmic era. He had rules in place for helping him, Nils and him agreeing that certain aspects of this needed to be treated like a time travel sci-fi show that wouldn't fuck up the timeline. After all this was an actual universe where they were killing…technically killing ACTUAL people if they destroyed the suits, and killing or saving certain characters could give one side of this war an edge that no one would want.

Noah walked over and held out his hand for Nils to shake. "Thank you…I promise when I link up with celestial being later to get Ian to fix Dearka up with a better cockpit, I'll bring back whatever data I can. After all cellular regeneration would certainly be interesting. Just…no military specs remember that." he said as Nils shook his hand.

"Of course…this technology could be both good and bad for the world. While you're in there I'll work on a program like you asked to allow this to be made into a new aspect of gunpla battles without breaking this wall anymore. Only people you allow will be able to go between universes. "he said. Noah smiled at that comment.

"If the zero system allows it…keep an eye on it also, I don't want it acting up and deciding to throw some mega sized GINN at me or something. The fact it brought shinn here…I hope to god it doesn't cause him to leave zaft or fuck up seed destiny's timeline." said Noah. Nils nodded in agreement.

"Yes…now go…you have some people to save." said Nils with a smile as he started the zero system and began to load everything for Noah and Luke's entrance back into the cosmic era.

Nearby in two new scanners sat the Gabriel gundam and blitz jaeger.

Luke would be piloting the blitz jaeger till they got through atmosphere, which wouldn't be long, with his job being to get it to Nicol ASAP.

Noah would do Kira's job and start defending the archangel till Kira actually showed up.

He smiled and nodded, heading to the cockpit. He put a hand on Lukes shoulder as his friend stared at the chair inside his cockpit. "Don't worry. Just remember to follow me, fight if you want otherwise just don't get shot down. Let the gundanium alloy do its job." he said before walking into his cockpit and taking his seat.

Flexing his hands Noah let the podium stand up and set his GP base on it. A moment later the holographic start button popped up and he pressed it, taking a deep breath as he watched his new haptic display come up.

His cockpit was still pretty much the same, just he had a few new screens that would give him readouts of his GN wells and his trinity drives synchronization. Quickly the monitors filled with all the data he expected, everything was green and his camera monitors were currently black as the arena next to the cockpits began to load in the area of space above Alaska and josh-a below it like in the world tournaments "global" survival map.

A moment later he was pinged with a comm channel and he opened it. It was Luke who still looked worried. "Before you say anything. Relax. You won't die, the system has a failsafe of killing the simulation if you got shot down. Which as long as you don't just sit in front of a zaft capital ship and take like…3 main cannon shots YOU WON'T BE!" he exclaimed. Luke jumped when he shouted and sighed.

"fine…if you say so…."he said and took the control balls in his hand before Noah turned his attention back to his main monitor, the screen slowly beginning to display the launch catapult of a Laurasia class ship the zero system had commandeered for him to launch from. Luke would launch from a Nazca class nearby.

Once the screen finished loading and was moving, showing the ships and everything outside no longer static he smiled. "Noah Carson! Gabriel gundam, LAUNCHING!" he shouted before pushing his accelerator to the max and watching once more as his gundam rocketed out of the launch tunnel.

Operation: meteor

**Cosmic era 71, march 8****th****, moments after operation spitbreak began**

Just moments ago the call to launch operation spitbreak had been sent out. The captain of the Laurasia class vessel "Gamow" was proud to be here, looking out over earth as the pods filled with mobile suits descended upon earth.

While it was shocking that the target of the operation was the earth alliances main base, josh-a, the cover up was brilliant and the not so subtly leaked into of panama being their main objective left the base with minimal defenses.

**((just a heads up, might wanna play meteor by T.M. revolution while reading this next part…it's what they play during the strike freedoms entrance into gundam seed destiny and it inspired me here))**

"Sir we…I have no idea how to put this but…a mobile suit has appeared in our launch tunnel and is…well…launching!" called out one of his officers from his CIC.

"What?! How can that be? We launched all our GINNs with operation spitbreak!" he yelled back as he looked to the green zaft soldier.

The young man looked up and could only shrug. "I'm not sure what happened sir…but…it…there! There it is!" he shouted as he looked up to the main monitor and they all saw a familiar flash of red particles.

"can't be…they…EX-caliber was declared shot down by our field operatives…hell I heard we recovered something from its wreckage...HOW IS IT HERE!?" he shouted as the machine they were looking at turned around to look at them. It was at a distance and clearly all mobile suits and ships in the area were aware of it as everyone seemed to be targeting it.

But no one was firing…that is until 6 red flashes shot out from its back and flew through the groups of mobile suits surrounding it, causing them all to suddenly lose their limbs, heads, arms, everything which then exploded before the mobile suits ended up as floating life pods basically.

The six flashes all came back and disappeared behind it. And with that all hell broke loose.

Missiles, bullets, beams, every weapon anyone had or any ship had available were being fired at it.

Soon even in space a cloud of smoke formed where it had been floating. The captains heart sank though when the smoke cleared and the machine was still there, unharmed while sitting within a red orb, though now a white mobile suit floated beside it, just as unharmed but missing any form of particles coming off it.

"Zoom in on the unidentified machines! Prepare another salvo!" shouted the captain.

With that his main monitor zoomed in on them and he finally saw it.

The machine that was producing the field of particles was NOT EX-caliber. No…this was something new…but similar in the sense of dread he felt, though that may just have been the signature particles it produced. The white machine next to it though resembled the machine known as the blitz that once had a bay in his ship. But it was also vastly different.

The new ex-caliber had two of those cones, or he assumed those were what was producing the particles on its shoulders while underneath…swords? The way they seemed to be being used as shields he was not sure if the large items covering its GN drives were swords or shields that perhaps could be repurposed into swords?

Either way the red and black objects certainly spoke ill will for anyone that crossed the machine. In its hands were some form of blade though he could see barrels at the end.

At its hips sat two more blades, one longer than the other though he was unsure as to the purpose of this. Lastly he could see two large handles sitting behind its shoulders and some sort of small blades further down its legs.

Then there were those red flashes. What were those? Either way this machine was hiding nothing unlike EX-caliber which in his experience meant the pilot felt no need to hide his arsenal, he was likely under the belief he was unstoppable.

Now the blitz looking machine…that was a whole nother story. To try and describe it…suffice to say it certainly had an air of death of its own.

It no longer had the trikeros weapon system on its right arm and didn't have the glepnir rocket anchor anymore, well not in the original sense. It seemed to have been modified to have it folded back and flattened on its right arm. It also looked to be wearing a trench coat of sorts which was odd for a mobile suit.

The trench coat though he felt meant it was hiding something underneath...

The oddest quality of the new machine was…it lacked a shield. In the cosmic era it was rare to find a machine outside the GINN or BuCuE that didn't have a shield.

Just as he finished his examination and was about to order another salvo to be fire the field around the new version of EX-caliber faded away and it raised its arms.

The blitz based machine also opened its trench coat, the odd feature seeming to soften as it pushed it aside on his hips like a normal coat and pulled something from both hips. Just as he thought, it was hiding a weapon….

But…he watched as it raised dual pistols. Pistols? They would likely be weak.

He was proven wrong when a moment later both machines opened up before any zaft forces could react….one of the blitz's BEAM pistol shots found its target…in his bridge…

Operation meteor

Noah smiled as he spun around to face his Laurasia class ticket into the cosmic era. The problem with all these ships here the zero system wouldn't allow him to enter a…well entrance vector for either machine like he originally had where like any arena a portal opened, they shot out, it disappeared.

No the zero system made him write a script that would allow him to have them both "materialize" within a ships launch tunnel and launch from them.

As he turn around he noticed quickly every ship and mobile suit had their guns trained on him, the "hyper trench coat" he designed for the blitz jaeger and the fact it had been remolded entirely from a melted down deathscythe to allow his new OS program to utilize its armor as being made of gundanium, it was clearly hidden from both their radars and visuals just like deathscythe hell as it slowly slipped from its Nazca class vessel.

While it maneuvered out of any of their firing lanes for the moment Noah prepared to wow the cosmic era. They all seemed to be watching him, waiting to see what he'd do…he decided to be a bit...flashy.

Looking to his right to earth's atmosphere he could see the red dots of reentry capsules dropping onto Alaska. They had likely just started operation spitbreak and his own operation meteor would be ruined if he destroyed everyone instantly, as he knew right now recordings were being made, data taken, photos as well, and reports forwarded back to the homeland of his arrival.

So he opened up his arsenal, selected his sword bits and targets which was the initial…15 mobile suits within striking distance of any of his hand held blades. He then set them to incapacitate the targets…and launched them.

He watched as with deadly precision and speed the bits sliced up the mobile suits, varying from new guaiz commander unit's to ginns all of varying…variants.

Within 30 seconds the bits came back, their job done, and he was surrounded in exploding limbs and weapons. Kira would be proud…

A second later he threw up a full strength GN field just in time to block EVERYONE around him, ships and mobile suits included opening up with whatever they had till the clips emptied, missile bays were empty, barrels were overheated and laser cannons needed to cycle.

As the smoke around his field dissipated he noticed Luke de-cloak next to him. He also noticed no one was bothering to rapidly reload and open up again. It seemed they thought that display of firepower would defeat him…again.

He opened up a com channel with Luke and smirked. "Hey Luke…remember that one assault mission tournament we joined, all those AI controlled ships and mobile suits? You had that dynames model but had forgotten its sniper rifle at home because I had been tuning it for you? I had the heavyarms cause I was in that "nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure" level of firepower phase?" asked Noah.

Luke nodded. He seemed to still be astounded that the effects of breaking the fourth wall were taking effect, the phone he had set on the floor of the cockpit so it didn't get crushed during the fighting floating in front of him…which he proceeded to poke and jump when it floated away towards the door.

"Well…care to repeat what we did there? I may not have some big fucking chain guns…but the repeater feature on my harute rifles will have the same effect here." He said, knowing they had a plan named for that exact kind of set up.

"You mean you wanna pull a polar opposite here? Is it safe?" he asked, concerned the plan might not work in this situation. The plan was simple. Luke, who only had small caliber weapons but was in all honesty a crack shot with them would take aim at bridges of the ships in front of them and take out the ships. Meanwhile Noah, who had the big guns, would take out the mobile suits. It was called polar opposite because in most cases the small guns would be used on the mobile suits due to lack of stopping power, while the big guns would rain hell down on the ships.

Noah nodded. "Yep…we only got another maybe 30 seconds before they come out of their shocked state. So?" he asked.

Luke smirked. "Fine…you have to repair these things anyways, no longer my problem if I get dinged a few times." Said Luke who watched Noah roll his eyes and brought his own arsenal up. It was small due to Noah wanting Nicols input before adding more weapons. Amongst that small list was custom dual beam pistols off a cherudim gundam.

A second later they both drew their weapons, took aim, and began unloading on their victims while Noah's GN buster swords swung back to covert his back and his GN sword bits launched and began a defensive setting, blocking shots from all angles for Noah and Luke.

After a minute of fire they both let off the trigger and boosted to either side, Luke to the right, Noah to the left, each having their own group of mobile suits following them.

Noah was smiling. It was just like old times with Luke, working side by side but at the same time alone. And he was back! He could feel the weight of his new machines arms in the arm rakes, he could hear his GN drives hum as they moved around him to allow him to dodge, block, parry, and target his enemies with excellent reflexive agility.

After a couple minutes an alarm went off in his cockpit. Not a serious one, it was a timer so that operation spit break could take place and he could come in and save the day. He just hoped Nicol and the archangel were still alive. There were certainly more ships here, likely due to the original potential threat placed with his existence. They probably didn't change the planned amount of forces just for good measure even after Heine shot him down.

"Luke it's time, close up your coat and follow me." He said as he turned around and gunned down two more ginns before boosting towards earth. He looked to his radar and saw that Luke had done as he said and he brought his buster swords in front of him, activating a partial GN field to put a good sized barrier between them and the heat of re-entry. He hoped he hadn't gotten cocky and would show up too late.

_Operation meteor_

**Cosmic era 71, JOSH-A base, 20 minutes into operation spitbreak**

Murrue bit her lip as ensign Neumann asked what they were to do. They had just been given orders to take off in defense of josh-a but these odds…they were suicidal. The numbers they were being sent…it's like zaft had no clue Noah had been killed and had sent enough forces to overwhelm him AND the base.

"Captain?" asked Neumann and she sighed. "Alert the crew to go to level one battle stations! The archangel will launch in defense of headquarters! Check and see if Nicol is still on board and if he is request celestial beings help in defending this ship at the least!" she called out.

Flay was no longer on the ship after the debriefing turned court martial where her and Nicol had been requested as "guests" of her command staff. the top brass had quite rudely over-ridden Nicols authority as celestial beings new leader, and after the way they spoke of him, Kira and even Noah they did not hide their clear leanings towards blue cosmos sympathizers if not members as they blatantly told Nicol even as a former zaft pilot and rightfully a POW of the E.A. he was lucky they were letting him go either to the archangel or on his own with the blitz.

They had stated the blitz, in its state especially was no EX-caliber and he posed no threat to them while they were deep in E.A. territory. Flays father demanded she return home and that was where she would be going, whether she was a member of celestial being or not.

She would not have been surprised if he left and tried to re-join zafts forces to get back at the admiralty board.

"I have Nicol on the line, he's requesting orders!" shouted miriallia

Murrue's heart jumped for joy when she heard the green haired boy was onboard and willing to help. "Inform him he is to launch and land on top of the center platform. Have him act as extra Anti-MS Defenses!" she commanded which miriallia relayed to the boy. She felt the ship jolt and they began to head out into the fray.

She prayed a miracle would occur and Noah would have pulled some stunt out of his ass to survive, with his machine, and come save them…because god knows they needed as many blessings right now as possible…not that she was a religious woman though.

Operation meteor

**Cosmic era 71, JOSH-A, 1 hour into operation spitbreak**

Nicol grunted as he raised his right arm and lifted the strikes shield he was using. They were barely out of the gate and as he blocked a pair of missiles on the shield before raising the rifle he was also borrowing given they had never been able to reconstruct the blitz' right arm or his trikeros weapon system, he could still count nearly 10 ginns and 3 cues surrounding the archangel.

"shit…need to get these guys to back off!" he exclaimed as he took a couple pot shots at a CGUE before using the launcher weapon system mounted on his right shoulder to shoot down a group of missiles aimed at the bridge with the help of the igelstellungs. He was barely able to go on the offensive here.

He had already shot down 3 ginns but for each one he shot down two more took their place.

He looked to his battery gauge and his eyes went wide. He radioed the bridge quickly and got miriallia. "I'm sorry but I need to come back inside to recharge, all these missiles and bullets on my phase shift armor plus the beam rifle…I'm nearly out of power!" he exclaimed as he took a step towards the still open launch tunnel which was open for this exact reason. He had only been out for maybe 20 minutes and already his battery was nearly dead.

"Ok…hurry please, I'll alert Chief Murdoch to ready a recharge system." stated the girl before she hung up. As Nicol also used the last of his shoulder chain gun ammo to shoot down a few more missiles he jumped down into the tunnel, using the last of his battery to boost back away from a string of bullets that pinged off the launch system where he had just been.

Landing in the crash safety net he quickly got the blitz out of it and moving towards a MS bay to recharge. He could see the ship shake as the ship was hit by a few missiles. He needed to get out there ASAP!

Suddenly he received a call from the bridge, "Nicol quick! The captain wants you to switch to the buster, we don't have time to wait…oh no! 3 ginns broke through the defenses!" she shouted and he quickly got out of his now docked blitz, ready to run to the buster if they somehow were saved or even just to sadly have a chance to activate the phase shift armor just to survive the explosion of the ship!

_Operation meteor_

Murrue's eyes were wide open in fear as she watched in horror while the three ginns who now hovered in front of her bridge all raised their rifles. This couldn't be it…they couldn't end here! Not after Noah and Kira sacrificed their lives to help them escape!

Purely out of fear miriallia closed her eyes back in the CIC and covered her head before shouting, "please Noah! Help us!" she was praying actually him or Kira made a miraculous entrance and saved them once more.

Whether it was luck or fate, or pure determination by the universe to see them live murrue watch in awe as in rapid succession three thin crimson beams came down from the sky and ran clean through each GiNN.

Finding that they had not been shot down the young man manning the radar chanced a look at the radar and gasped. "Unidentified mobile suit above us!" he called out but he took a closer look at the read out. "No way…captain the new machine is producing GN particles!" he shouted which caused everyone to gasp.

"Get a visual on that machine now!" called out murrue. She was glad now that Noah had written a program into their detection systems to not only pick up GN particle emissions on the off chance…well he was shot down and zaft got ahold of GN drive technology, but it also allowed it to stop jamming their radar and video systems.

On the main monitor, despite everything going on around them murrue was able to get a glimpse of their savior.

It was bigger, and clearly wasn't hiding any of its weapons…but…"it can't be…"she mumbled in awe.

"Captain I'm getting a hail from the unknown machine!" called out kuzzey from their comms station.

"Put it through!" shouted murrue and soon she saw a face they all thought long gone. "Noah…"she said quietly, her expression that of relief.

The boy smirked. "I see you can't go long without me saving you. I brought a friend along this time with a gift for Nicol, tell him to wait in the hangar, he's currently clearing out some dinn's that have landed in a nearby hangar so we can get some aerial backup. Then he`ll bring it to him." said Noah before cutting the comms.

"Incoming missiles aimed at the bridge…no time to intercept!" shouted their radar operator and they all saw the small masses of destruction heading for them. What surprised them was six GN particle producing objects coming to form a circle in front of the bridge. From there the missiles seemed to hit some form of particle field the objects produced and exploded before they flew away.

It seemed Noah was no longer in EX-caliber…he was on a whole new level.

This was proven when he landed on the archangel's midsection and took a knee, holding a massive rifle/blade in his right arm and bracing it with his left.

Unknown to them was the fact normally Noah didn't charge up his shots, he used the hyper discharge system to negate that. But for now he needed to save up his particles. So in turn they watched as his two GN drives spun up and produced more particles before they felt the ship get physically pushed back by the recoil of his shot, barely but they could feel their own engines fighting to hold them where they were.

When he fired they all felt their jaws drop at the massive crimson shot which was immensely similar in size and color to a lohengrin shot.

They had no clue what he was aiming at but in the process of the beam following its path, the sheer size of it caught at least 11 ginns and 2 dinns and a CGUE in its path or just on the fringes. As all these mobile suits went up in flames the beam proved it still wasn't done as it atomized the bridge of one of zafts destroyers and slammed into the deck of a carrier submarine. Both ships exploded and Noah stood the machine back up, using his GN particles to float off the ship instead of pushing off and shoving them down and flew off to join the fray, switching to his two GN sword rifles.

Murrue was in tears as they all gathered themselves and she began shouting commands again, everyone's drive to survive back and all of them working hard to stay afloat.

_Operation meteor_

Mu grunted as he entered the aircraft hangar only to have to jump back to avoid being vaporized by a beam shot. He glanced around the corner and noticed a dinn squad heading their way. He popped around the corner and ran to a soldier who was on the radio calling for backup.

As he tried to see who was in charge here he had to hug the wall to avoid another shot. Looking up he saw the squad leader land followed by the other dinns. The mobile suits began to make their way into the base but he was shocked when the one in the rear exploded and a green beam saber suddenly was visible.

"What the…"he muttered as the squad turned around and a seemingly custom version of the blitz faded into existence, green beam saber in its hand. It side stepped a beam from the CGUE and a dinn drew its new beam lined heavy sword. Blocking a swing from said sword everyone involved except the pilot seemed surprised when the beam saber cut clean through the new sword and continued to cleave the dinn in half.

The new threat turned to the rest of the squad while deactivating the beam saber and faded out of view just as they all opened up on his spot. They all began looking for him but the leaders suit suddenly arched its back and raised up as the green saber speared it from behind.

The new blitz faded back into view and picked up the CGUEs beam rifle, shrugging off the dinns bullets like they were spit balls.

The 3 remaining purple machines took a step back and prepared to turn and run but the blitz, with lethal efficiency pulled the trigger three times and with each shot it connected with the cockpit and cause the machines to explode.

The oddest thing happened next though. Without saying a word the blitz began kicking…literally kicking the remains of the squad out of the hangar before stepping to the side and making a motion almost specifically to mu to leave.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth he ran over to a nearby jet, stopping only to tell the mechanic working on it to run at least 10 km away from the base. Once inside he saw the blitz was gone and two halves of a GiNN falling back out of the base before the explosion caused him to end up taking off through a cloud of smoke.

Whoever that pilot was…he hoped they were on his side….cause he had to admit…that sure as hell wasn't Nicol.

_Operation meteor_

Rau le creuset had to admit…he was rather annoyed with this turn of events. after escaping the complex labyrinth that was JOSH-A base he had come outside to discover an rather annoying problem had returned…and stronger now. he had watched as he left off a second one of those massive blasts and watched it decimate atleast 3 squadrons of mixed forces.

But…as he looked back into his cockpit he would also smile. He had quite the prize still passed out in his cockpit. The daughter of the man who would have been the first one noah saved and the man who essentially pulled the trigger on the nuclear attack on junius seven.

He had run into her in the base and was somewhat surprised when she saw him and seemed to faint at the sight of him. he was certain it was because of the fact he was a zaft commander and she was originally a civilian.

He climbed back into his cockpit and started his CGUE back up before flying off to go back to the submarine carrier that he was commander of. It was time they left…he had no intention of being here when the cyclops system went off.

_Operation meteor_

Luke wouldn't lie…after piloting this blitz jaeger…he was jealous of Nicol. The machine was certainly world class. There was no resistance to the arm rakes, and the stealth capabilities allowed him to be a phantom on the battle field, phasing in and out of view just as Noah had explained Nicol had fought in orbit. It was perfect for his new hunter-killer fighting style.

Finally he flew back to the archangel after helping clear out the hangar for mu, he had to admit seeing the hawk standing there dumbfounded at his display of fighting prowess…it left him a bit …giddy and fanboyish. He found the archangel and opened a radio signal with them. He had to blush when miriallia answered it.

"Are you the friend Noah spoke of?" she asked, raising an eyebrow like Luke must not have seemed very impressive.

He sighed. "Yes…can you let Murdoch know I'm coming in for a landing, mu should be behind me shortly with a fighter jet? And have Nicol ready to take this thing out…it won't need charged in anyway." he said as he got close and de-cloaked, slowing down to enter the now busted but still open launch bay.

Knowing mu would be making a crash landing he used a quick boost from his thrusters to land with a slight skid in the hangar. He looked at his monitors and had to take a deep breath, hoping this worked. He could see the buster sitting, deactive in one MS bay, and a jury rigged blitz sitting next to it. He frowned…Noah was right…Kira still ended up losing to athrun….he hoped athrun lost the aegis as well.

Finally he brought the machine to a crouch opened his cockpit and was pleasantly surprised when with a short ride down on the models apparent cockpit lift thing he was face to face with Nicol.

"What's it called?" asked Nicol, not caring to make pleasantries with the young man, instead looking up at the machine Noah likely deemed "celestial being caliber"

Luke looked back at it and smiled. "It's called the blitz jaeger. It isn't fully armed yet. Beam sabers hidden in the cuffs on the forearm, "glepnir kai" built into the right arm, and it has a "hyper jammer coat" that will allow you to cloak from everything, visuals, radar, heat…everything." Said Luke as he looked back to Nicol who was smiling.

"Oh and no phase shift armor. It's made of gundanium alloy, Noah will explain that but suffice to say it's a non-powered version of phase shift armor that is also on steroids…."he said and knew what Nicol was about to ask. "It's powered by a gundanium alloy shielded nuclear fission reactor…don't ask me, ask Noah…he`ll explain it all." said Luke who patted Nicol on the back…he actually TOUCHED Nicol Amalfi who nodded and took the lift back up to the cockpit.

"good luck!" he called out as Nicol got in the cockpit and clearly took a minute orienting himself with the haptic displays and a few test steps and almost accidentally frying some mechanics with the thrusters and he moved to the catapult, rocketing out at max speed, already understanding he didn't need to worry about his power supply so he didn't wait for the catapult to be ready.

Luke then turned to Murdoch and smiled. "Which way to the bridge?" He asked which had the mechanic scratching his head as he looked to the buster. "Don't you wanna go out there? If you're a pilot we could use all the help we can get." he said to which Noah laughed.

"I can pilot a gunpla…an actual gundam…not even gonna try that. Don't feel like getting killed." he said before heading off to the door he remembered from the series as the hangar exit. "I'll find my way there…or the mess hall…piloting is hard work." he said, like Noah trying his hardest not to touch everything, and leaving was all that was stopping him from going against what he said and trying to pilot the buster.

The mechanic sighed and then heard they had a jet with the let commander in it son the way with a crash landing so he ran off to help his crew with that.

_Operation meteor_

Noah was grinning from ear to ear as he killed the power to his accelerator and fell through the mess of airspace that belonged to JOSH-A base while avoiding a salvo of cannon fire from the zaft fleet.

He wasn't looking for anyone in particular but was just loving being back as he pushed his accelerator to the max before spinning around into a bombing run, the bombs being a hail of red death fired from his GN sword rifles as he flew over a group of ships before climbing back into the fray.

As he heard two ships explode he found a CGUE that wasn't paying attention and was happy to watch his sword cleave it in two before he turned and unloaded a flurry of beams on a pair of GINNS which went up in flames.

Of course following his words stated in orbit one aircraft carrier and 3 destroyers were laying at the bottom of the bay that belonged to the Atlantic federation. He was being careful and leaving the Eurasian forces to zaft.

He did a quick spin and a pair of E.A. jets were split in two, not even exploding as they fell. Oh how good it felt to be back here. Part of him was worried that he was so happy to be back and another part wasn't merely due to the fact he was in the middle of a war…a gundam series war…so why not enjoy it?

Either way he pulled out one of his GN buster swords 2, charged the shot, and grinned as 10 GINN pilots, 2 DINN pilots, and 7 E.A. jet pilots found out why they should be fearing him as another buster rifle sized shot cleared a good chunk of machinery from the battlefield before ending the lives of a ZAFT destroyer's crew.

With that done he put the massive gun away and once again focused on picking enemies off slowly and having fun.

_Operation meteor_

Everyone on the bridge looked back to the door as it opened and a young man seemed to be shoved out of the way and ended up falling head first into the CIC. While miriallia identified him as Luke, Noah's friend, the rest listened to the lieutenant commander.

"My transfer isn't important right now. What is is this fucked up plan the brass came up with. "he said before grinding his teeth and slamming his fist down onto the back on murrue's chair, she didn't say anything given what he said next.

"we should have listened to Noah…it's clear after yesterday's hoax of a court martial or debriefing or whatever it was and the fact they left you all here with that zaft pilot still onboard. The top brass has to all be in blue cosmos' pocket." He said.

"Just what are you talking about mu?" she asked, concerned by his tone. And use of words.

Luke groaned as he finally got to his feet. "You mean…the cyclops system?" everyone gasped when he mentioned the deadly weapon.

Mu blinked. "Yeah how'd you know about it? And who are you?" he asked but murrue held her hands up. "We can go over who is is and where he's from later…what's this about a cyclops system?" asked murrue, looking between the two men.

Mu motioned for Luke to continue as he wanted to know what the stranger knew.

He sighed. "It's a cyclops system the brass have built under the base. This whole plan was known about months in advance and has been one big cover up for blue cosmos to get rid of any opposition within the earth alliance and have their governing states take over. Non loyal Eurasian forces are the ones they left here along with you all due to Kira's piloting the strike and likely Nicol and Noah's presence too. They deem this ship a huge failure and glaring show of the fact they still can't stand up to the coordinators on even ground…even with the gat series." Luke stopped to take a breath.

"Their whole plan is to get as many zaft forces within the base, they end up getting I think about 80% of the forces remaining inside the blast radius. Then when zaft enters the main gate they set it off, cooking everyone here, friend and foe alike. But…"Luke smiled which caused murrue to raise an eyebrow.

"Noah has a plan to stop that…you just gotta send the SOS to him about it, that's his signal to go use his secret weapon." Said Luke which confused everyone, especially when he motioned to miriallia to make the call.

The brown haired girl nodded and did so. "Noah…yes it's good to see you too…Noah we have a problem…oh you know…oh…ok…I'm not sure exactly how much time is left but your friend says you have a way to stop it…please do…you just saved us…not exactly ready to die yet…"she stated before hanging up and everyone watched the main window as Noah flew overhead and they all waited to see what he had planned.

In the meantime murrue stood up. "If this whole farce was to lure zaft closer into the base then I think we have accomplished that objective. Make a note that I, captain murrue Ramius of the vessel known as the archangel make this decision alone and…"Luke walked up and put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

She blinked. "w-what? You want us to stay here and fight?" she asked, surprised by his actions.

"Hell no I wanna live. We just don't need a big speech. The brass deems you all a lost cause, a failed project. The moment you leave you`ll be deemed AWOL and traitors. Why bother leaving something for the records?" he asked before turning to Neumann.

"Take us to port, you can break through the left side, let Nicol know and have him help make a path. Signal the other ships, tell them what's going on, tell them they can follow if they want otherwise good luck and god speed." he said before turning to captain Ramius and blushing. "Sorry got um…I knew what your plan was obviously and just felt we didn't need a long speech that was ultimately pointless. Sorry." said Luke before shrinking away from the angry captain's gaze.

Ultimately though she sighed. "Do what he said. And keep me informed of Noah's status." She ordered as she sat back down.

Operation meteor

Noah weaved back and forth amongst the buildings that made up the main base. He was amazed at how much had fit into this place. He had done his calculations before coming back and knew exactly where to land to perform his stunt…and got he hoped it worked.

By now the archangel would be making its way out the left of the battlefield, and soon Kira would show up. He needed to work fast if he wanted to save the day.

Finally he found his spot dead center in the city. It turned out to be a little park surrounded by natural waterfalls within the caves. He took one last look around and dislodged his buster swords from his GN drives, letting them fall to the ground though he "officially" dislodged them, not just disengaging them so as they fell they broke down into small plavsky particles, disappearing from the simulation. He had spares in his bag and with his new toy he'd bring his model to him.

Putting in the commands for a full GN particle purge he took a deep breath and brought up his second SP slot on his gundam arsenal. "Nothing ventured…nothing gained." he said before hitting the command to use the ability.

With that his GN drives spun up rapidly and began spewing out GN particles like mad. Ports all over his body along with certain sections of armor either opened up or fell off the model.

While this meant losing parts of the Gabriel gundam for the moment, again he had spares.

Soon the small city that made up the base was being filled with particles as his 00[T] shield system opened up and he performed essentially a quantum burst, GN particles rushing out to fill the base, saturating it rapidly with high amounts of particles.

As the particles passed a wave of ZHooTs the machines were forced to shut down, the massive amount of particles turning into an EMP.

"Gabriel gundam GN EMP system is a success…"he said proudly as his sword bits activated and his nearly naked model, stripped of armor in the purge down to its inner skeleton, turned and barely lifted off the ground, running on bare minimum particles to even be turned on. It flew into the portal the bits made and disappeared, Noah siting back in his chair as the model went into auto-pilot mode, a setting he made just for this event. It would take the model to the archangel and have it land in the hangar where Noah could get out, use his invention, and use a new model to fight with till he got back. He was thinking of using his custom gouf. It was a UC version base so he wouldn't be breaking his own rules, just sit on the archangel, and take it easy by using his chain guns?

After the fight he could fix Gabriel and get it back to normal.

_Operation meteor_

Nicol grunted as his gundam brought up its arms to block a group of missiles that hit him. This machine was amazing…but needed work. At least to him in terms of its armaments. The gundanium armor, the nuclear reactor…the lack of having to worry about a battery! That was his biggest joy of all for this machine.

As he lowered his arms he aimed his two pistols at the HWS GINN and opened up on it, watching as he put 5 shots into its torso before he turned and did the same for a second GINN. As they exploded he closed his cloak and disappeared.

If there was one feature he liked most about this gundam it was his new cloak. The fact he could cloak up and not have to worry about how vulnerable he might be…it made a world of difference for his fighting style.

He'd find a group of zaft mobile suits or land on a submarine carrier, de-cloak and attack, and while the sub sunk or the machines exploded he'd re-cloak and fly off.

The other thing on his mind even as he fought was the fact Noah was back. While his time as celestial beings leader was short he was more than happy to relinquish the power back to Noah. He wasn't a leader. He wouldn't be able to recruit Dearka, or somehow rescue flay, or do anything as celestial beings leader. Not with his old blitz anyway.

But with Noah back and this new blitz he didn't have to worry about being the leader or how to go about recruiting Dearka. But there was one thing that was concerning to him about how exactly Noah came back and now had that other guy with him…

How did he survive EX-calibers destruction?

As he began to ponder that he finally found yzak and watched as he made his way toward the archangel. He looked back and noticed Noah wasn't there to defend the ship! Where had he gone?

But just as he was about to attack him from behind he watched the duel raise its rifle at the ships bridge, their defenses unable to intercept him for some reason. He had been planning to capture him but how was he going to get around and block the shot in time? It was either destroy him or capture him but lose the archangel…

Before he could make that choice though he watched a beam come out of the sky like how Noah's had on the GINN's but instead of running the duel through he watched it pierce yzaks rifle.

Yzak backed up as the rifle exploded before Nicol looked up and watched another new machine swoop down and nearly behead the duel while drawing a beam saber. Instead yzak backed up further and watched as the new machine began hovering in front of the archangel's bridge.

Nicol de-cloaked as yzak flew away, likely to re-supply, and moved towards the machine as it seemed to take a moment and cool likely from the heat of re-entry as all its vents released steam.

As he did so he was pinged with a comm request. Answering it he saw a familiar face on the screen.

"This is Kira yamato…Nicol is that you?" asked Kira, clearly surprised to see Nicol inside the new machine.

The green haired coordinator nodded. "Yeah it's me Kira. You're not the only one who's back from the dead. Noah came back, and with not only a new machine, but a friend and a new machine for myself." He stated with a smile. This news also brought a look of joy to Kira's face but as three GINN's showed up to try and cover yzaks escape Kira's face turned to determination.

"Nicol please move." He said simply and Nicol nodded, moving forward and to the side to hover next to Kira. He watched as the new machine revealed its full arsenal. Nicol couldn't wait to see what the...

"Oh…" stated Nicol quietly as he watched a new screen pop-up within his haptic display cockpit. It quickly gave him a list of this new machine…the ZGMF-X20A freedom's loadout along with a breakdown of its strengths and weakness'.

He'd have to ask Noah where that screen came from as he hadn't noticed it before.

As he re-focused on Kira's new arsenal he watched Kira unleash his signature "beam spam" barrage and accurately take out all three ginns' head's, rifles, and firing arms. The accuracy!

It was then he got pinged by the archangel for a comm channel. He opened it and listened to what miriallia had to say.

"This is a linked message for you and Kira. There is a cyclops system underneath the base which apparently has been evacuated. This was all a trap, with us as bait to draw as many of the zaft forces in as possible. Noah has already gone in to disarm it supposedly but the captain wants us to move out. We are going to head starboard and exit to the left of the bay. Please cover us as best as possible while we move out." Stated miriallia before cutting the channel.

Nicol looked to Kira and they nodded, ending their own chat before they began to move with the ship and work together again to defend it. Oh…it was certainly nice to have Noah and Kira back. Now Nicol wasn't so worried about their chances of survival…and with new machines each as well.

Things were looking very good.

_Operation: meteor_

Noah grunted as the Gabriel gundam hit the crash net. It was a crude landing for such an advanced gundam but then again when you had no feet…you kinda were limited on how you landed….he'd need to fix that if he ever fired another EMP on that scale.

The fact the cyclops system had yet to go off was a sign but it also was making it so zaft was pressing harder than ever.

_**Five minutes earlier…**_

_Noah gripped his control balls as he dropped out of his small quantum leap right into the thick of battle. His GN drives barely producing enough particles to keep him in the air he maneuvered through the fighting, dodging ginns and cues and ships and just all manner of fire and flak. He gasped as at one point a quick jig to the left caused his drives to cut out on him at one point. _

_That was when Kira decided to make his presence known as the freedom defended the archangel. _

"_This is a message to all earth alliance and zaft forces! Please stop this fighting! A man you all know as Noah Carson just stopped the earth alliance from firing a cyclops system! I`m not sure how but surely you can see if the alliance was giving this base up like that then it isn't worth fighting over anymore! Please stop and get away, go home! Go see your families…something!" cried out Kira from the cockpit of the freedom as clearly either the zero system was taking over once again while integrating his version of this universe and couldn't compensate for the lack of a cyclops system for him to warn of…Orr Kira was just as surprised he was alive as Noah was._

_So Noah decided if zaft though Kira was lying…why not prove him right?_

_Opening a communication with the battlefield via the emergency communications signal he cleared his throat. "This is Noah Carson, leader of celestial being and former pilot of the dreaded EX-caliber mobile suit. Well that mobile suit is gone so you can all start pissing your panties over my new suits name. Celestial being has a history of naming its own original designs after well…celestial beings. And given the fact that my new mobile suit can produce enough GN particles to cause an EMP like…"he stopped when he finally saw a rush of particles burst out of every hangar like a multitude of GN drives had just exploded within but the blasts stopped just outside them and died out quickly as they were the last remaining GN particles from the EMP. _

"_Like that and therefore is vastly superior to EX-caliber…I have dubbed this machine Gabriel! For I have a message for both the earth forces and zaft just as Gabriel is the messenger of god!" Noah called out as he went into a dive to try and get to the archangel faster. _

"_The message is this! I have just spared you all the agony of that cyclops system! All those GN particles could have been used to make a GN field big enough to guide my temporary home out of here safely! So my suggestion to you all is to look deep into your hearts and think…do you really wish to face the wrath of god? Or do you want to live? If you wanna live then get the fuck out of here, do as the kid said, and run, flee, gather your loved ones and make your peace. because the battlefields will be covered with blood the moment I step back on them. Or better look to your leaders and see the evil genocidal freaks they are! Join us, join our cause and live to see a day where this war is actually over!" he called out before he finally made a run to the archangel. _

_**End flashback**_

The message he just put out felt wrong and like he needed to go take a bath or shower and scrub the Ali al saacheez off him but if it worked then he'd stick to it for now.

Until he found out if it did though he was quick to get out of his machine with his GP base and while the techs tried to move the massive machine he threw a small disc device under it before bringing up a program on his GP base. The moment he did so he hit activate and the machines eyes lit up. "**Battle ended!" ** called out a random voice from its speakers, which startled the mechanics as Murdoch ran over and watched as the machine slowly broke down into a uncountable number of small blue and green particles like what he had seen fill Noah's cockpit. Shortly after the mass of particles shrunk and reformed to make a small object laying on the device.

Noah ran up and picked up the object and decide before turning to Murdoch and offering the object to him. "Please find someplace safe to store that." He stated before handing Murdoch a…plastic model? While Noah ran to the middle of the hangar he examined the toy. It looked exactly like the mobile suit he had just been flying, damage and all…but it was a plastic model.

He heard his men gasp and turned around when he heard. "**Combat mode start up! Damage lev-lev-lev!" ** Came the loud announcement from something…no…from the small black model that Noah placed on the same device. A moment later he watched as the small model broke down into those same particles, the small mass became large, and the process reversed as what he assumed was a life sized version of said model formed atop the small device that now sat between its feet. He watched Noah run to it and ride a personal lift up to a cockpit in its gut but his entire crew gasped as the mobile suit turned to head for the catapult.

The reason everyone now was backing away was the bright red eye that shown where eyes should have been on one of the few machines he'd worked on in his life.

Murdoch watched as Noah walked the model to the catapult and maneuvered it up the launch tunnel with the broken doorway. From there the machine walked to the end and boosted out and up like Nicol did in the blitz.

God rest their souls whoever got in the way of that machine…

_Operation: meteor_

Noah sighed as he landed on the middle section of the archangel's bow. And he did so just in time as his cockpit alerted him to an inbound CGUE. This one was a custom coloring but the pilot who clearly fought enough to earn such distinction had no clue as to just who may be piloting a custom gouf, a machine never seen in the cosmic era just like the Gabriel gundam and EX-caliber.

The custom machine maneuvered around Kira easily as it timed one of his barrages then full throttled it past him. Clearly the pilot had no interest in Kira or the freedom. No he came to a landing on the bow and brought out the cues heavy sword, making an upward angled swing trying to outpace Noah's gouf and slice through its torso. A killing blow to be sure…till it was blocked by one of Noah's two chain gun shields.

For the pilot seed's standard time slowing effects started as his machine visibly tensed, for the first time in his career he was on the receiving end of a mono-eyed mobile suits angled glares as the eye of Noah's gouf turned and looked at him, his cgue's eye meeting his as the clang from his sword hitting the shield rang though his ears.

The pilot received a random communication request and answered it, blinking when he saw an unknown pilot suits with a dimmed visor staring at him. "So…you wanna dance huh? And here I thought only the char clones had high mobility custom suits…" stated the pilot before closing the communication.

It was then he learned the true mistake behind his choice as he was shoved back and boosted up and back, bringing his own machine gun shield up and beginning to spin up the gun. Before he could though he found a glowing red blade flying at him and he had too boost to the side. Deciding the brute before him wasn't worth the bullets he flew in for another slash attack.

As he did so he was startled to watch as the machine moved its right arm, which had released its chain gun shield but instead of dropping it the shield had merely shifted away from the hand and up the arm. Plus the handle that had been in a holster on its right leg was missing. So that was where the blade came from.

But what startled him was he watched and listened to the shield disengage from the black giant and crash to the floor of the ship, but not before the pilot managed to grab a handle from the top of the shield and draw another blade.

As the two physical blades met though he noticed this one wasn't glowing and so he raised his shield, managing to fire a small salvo of rounds, a couple spins of the barrel at almost point blank range. To his dismay the mobile suit boosted up just in time to break their duel of strength and boosted back to land away from him, raise his shield, and block his salvo even though he landed back in its path. The zaft pilot eagerly began opening fire on him more but as he did so the machine just closed the gap, step by step, not missing a single bullet with its shield.

Once it was in range Noah's "gouf elite" took a swing with its blade. The coordinator was quick to laugh and bring his blade up to block the originally black and standard physical blade…but soon his world went black as the blade began to glow a bright red, cut through his sword and after that through his cockpit like it was butter.

Just as this happened a squad of dinn's seemed to get around Kira…Noah swore the boy was letting them past now on purpose, but watched as he kicked the exploding remains of the bow of the ship and scooped his second chain gun shield.

Stunned by the fact his sword could apparently heat up enough to rival a beam saber the group was stunned long enough for a group of wombat missiles to catch the surprised pilots and destroy all four dinn's.

Noah just smirked and raised both shields and began imitating trowa and heavyarms, shooting down what missiles and mobile suits he could with his chain guns. Finally the archangel got some breathing room and soon they found themselves leaving the battlefield, oddly enough a zaft submarine carrier and 3 earth alliance ships, a frigate and 2 destroyers, having sent an SOS signal and now tailing them as potential friendlies though Kira was keeping an eye on them as Noah headed back inside with his gouf to get to work on repairing the Gabriel. He hoped that Erica built what he requested.

_Operation: meteor_

**Cosmic era 71, orb, same time as operation spitbreak**

Speaking of Erica Simmons, she and Nina were enjoying a small break, Nina working on the new cockpit Erica had built for the EX-caliber and Erica obviously putting the finishing touches on Noah's secondary project for her.

Neither of them knew who was on his way or how he would be getting their…they both were just trying to prepare for the inevitable day when orb would need defending.

_**Operation: meteor**_

**Ok sorry for the rushed ending but I wanted to get this out there. It's still up for revision but I figured I'd made you all wait long enough plus with the holidays over I needed to finally finish this chapter. Either way expect this chapter to likely get at least one update before the next chapter gets posted as I feel like some parts may have come out as confusing. **

**I wanted to write a chapter where I went along with Noah's idea to bring one of them with him after the nataku incident but I'm trying to figure out how to write it without having the character that comes with Noah seem to fanboyish when he sees his own machine in 1/1 scale or shakes hands with one of the gundam characters.**

**Let me know what you all think, as always read and review.**

**By the way if you wish to know what the blitz jaeger is based on, heres the custom machine that gave me the idea.**

**Ok update: the link did not work,trying to post them on my profile. Either way if you look up the blitz gundam on gundam kits collections and look for the white ones with what looks like a golden shenlong fang thing on it's right arm and lightning boltz on it's legs.**

**i`ll say it now, I don't own that specific custom machine but suffice to say that's what it's based on…hope it helps you all picture MY design.**


	18. on the wings of an angel

_**On the wings of an angel**_

_**Cosmic era 71, may 8**__**th**__**, plant central government building.**_

Athrun was perplexed by the scene he found outside his father's new office. It was a chaotic scene with everyone's attitudes ranging anywhere from joyful and proud to downright terrified. He had just gotten off the shuttle from earth and was coming to see his father about operation spitbreak.

Immediately though once he took in the atmosphere of the building athrun heard his name being called. Turning he saw a familiar face and smiled. "Commander Yuuki…what's going on? He asked the man who answered his question with a grim look.

"Operation spitbreak…it was both a failure and a success." he stated which caused athrun to become even more confused.

"What do you mean? How could it have failed but also succeeded?" he asked as the commander pulled him off to the side.

The commander took a deep breath and exhaled before beginning to explain what happened. "What you should know first athrun…is that Noah Carson is back. We don't know how and we don't know where he got his mobile suit but…well…let's just say a lot happened while you were in the hospital and even more on your flight here. Where to begin?" he asked himself as athrun became a statue with shock.

Noah Carson was alive? The leader of celestial being was alive? How? He saw the mass of particles himself on one of his cameras during his fight with Kira! The machine was GONE! From his vantage point he saw no wreckage at all!

"While you were gone we have had 2 mobile suits stolen though I suppose I should leave that to your father to explain. Then once operation spitbreak began two unidentified mobile suits showed up. Reports say one of them had TWO of those cone drives that EX-caliber had while the other was a new variation of the blitz." He said and let that sink in as athrun seemed to grow frustrated.

"What else?" asked athrun between grinding teeth.

"We don't have a full picture yet but it seems both those machines intervened in operation spitbreak. Early reports state though that had they not done so the entire force would have been annihilated by some weapon the earth forces were planning to use. That is where we succeeded as we took the base. However we failed when the same device used to somehow disable the weapon by Noah Carson also fried every bit of technology in the base, rendering it useless as we have no intelligence to gather from It." he stated.

Athruns face went from rage to one of angry contemplation. Had Noah Carson not returned it sounded like the operation would have failed completely AND they would have lost all their forces there? But with his return meant also the return of celestial being and zafts greatest threat since the nuclear attack on junius seven.

"Thank you…I'm afraid I have to go see the chairman now, excuse man." He stated with his tone laced with anger as he walked past the zaft commander and towards the supreme leader of the plant's office…also his father's new office.

Once inside athrun heard his father ranting about the defense council and Clyne family and lacus apparently consorting with a spy. By the end though his father began to sound like a madman, like he should be foaming at the mouth and it worried the violet haired coordinator.

Finally the men he was speaking to left and he approached his father. "Father…"he said quietly, trying to gauge his father's mood. He was met with a glare and his father quickly focused all his current rage on him. It was so strong athrun to practically feel it wanting to strangle him just for being in his presence.

"What did you call me?" Patrick zala asked.

Athrun quickly saluted and stood at attention. "My apologies chairman zala!" he exclaimed and waited for his father to begin speaking.

"The situation is far worse then I'm sure you`ve been told…"he began but waited for athrun to talk to see what the boy knew.

"Yes I'm sure it is but I can't believe what I'm hearing. Lacus…helping a spy? She'd never betray the plants like that." he stated and his father turned an activated a hidden monitor in the wall. It began to play footage from a hangar, lacus standing in front of a new mobile suit alongside a boy in a zaft red uniform. "That hair…couldn't be…" thought athrun as the camera zoomed in on the two of them.

"No matter how innocent and naïve you think lacus to be, proof such as this makes it all too clear that her family has been conspiring to betray us since the moment former chairman Clyne was taken out of office. This video shows lacus handing over the ZGMF-X20A freedom to the spy, who took it and headed for earth." Said the plants current chairman before stopping the footage and turning to face athrun once more.

"The freedom is one of four machines originally developed based on combat data from Nina yang's paladin and experimental technology used on the EFT guaiz that fought alongside you to combat Noah and his EX-caliber. It is also one of the two already completed. With Noah Carson back and in what seems to be a newer, more powerful machine we needed the freedom more than ever now." he said, his tone becoming full of rage by the end of his explanation.

Athrun couldn't believe what he was seeing. He continued to stare at the paused footage which had stopped on lacus' face when she turned to stare directly at the camera. His father mentioned her no longer being his fiancé but what brought him out of his thoughts was him stating she was being treated as a fugitive.

He turned and listened closely to his father.

"We are getting reports the freedom may have gone to earth and assisted Noah Carson in allowed the legged ship to escape operation spitbreak. You are hereby tasked with the reclamation of the freedom. Go to the armory and take the ZGMF-X09A justice, the second suit to be completed once its preparations are complete. With the justice you are to find the freedom, eliminate the pilot and kill all persons involved with it and who have come in contact with It." he said before laying a folder on his desk which athrun picked up.

"It goes without saying that should you be unable to capture the freedom your orders are to destroy it. And if you come in contact with Noah and his new machine your orders are the same. Capture it, do what Nina could not do, and bring it back to us. Barring that you are to destroy It." he said as athrun opened the folder and found it was a file on the freedom and the justice.

He closed it a saluted once more. "Chairman Zala, permission to speak freely!" he requested and received a simple nod. Likely his father knew he'd have questions.

"Sir if I may ask…I was told two machines were stolen while I was gone. What was the second machine if the freedom was stolen but the justice is still in the armory?" he asked, confused as to what happened just while he was in the hospital.

His father folded his hands together and closed his eyes. "While you were recovering we went back to the site of your final battle with the strike. We were looking to recover any wreckage of EX-caliber before the naturals did. What we found was…unusual. Where its corpse should have been we instead found a plastic model of said machine that seemed to mirror the state EX-caliber should have been in after its destruction. Upon further investigating we found bits and pieces of it and brought them to the homeland. There one of our technicians who apparently has a hobby of making plastic models rebuilt it. When he did so something incredible happened." he said, beginning to sound like a mad scientist about to reveal his evil invention.

"The machine somehow broke down into a small mass of green and blue particles which expanded and grew before reforming into the full scale EX-caliber. Supposedly Nina yong heard about this and decided that she would also betray the homeland. She broke into the armory and found it shortly after we filled its missing cockpit section with a customized GINN cockpit. From there she killed almost 20 guards, including her uncle who was commanding the security team at the moment and stole EX-caliber from us." Said Patrick as he began to grind his teeth in anger.

Athrun gulped audibly. Now not only was Noah Carson back…but a pilot of his own caliber was in possession of EX-caliber…this was certainly a worst case scenario. "One more thing sir…if we were able to gather prisoners from operation spitbreak then certainly it wasn't a complete loss intelligence wise." He said, confused as to why they were viewing the mission as a loss given the fact they likely had plenty of prisoners.

What came next scared athrun and made him begin to question his father's sanity as he grinned with clearly mischievous joy in what he said next. "There are no prisoners. Clearly the naturals intend to wipe us out completely if they will sacrifice their own people just to eliminate as many of our troops as possible. Since they were willing to slaughter their own people I gave the order…no prisoners. Every surviving soldier of the earth forces that we gathered was executed." He said as he leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands as he looked athrun in the eyes.

"Make no mistake athrun. If you come back without the freedom, without proof of its destruction, you will possibly be dooming the plants. Both the X10A freedom and X09A justice are equipped with N-jammer cancellers to allow them to utilize nuclear reactors and stand on par with Noah's mystery power source. So…if you return empty handed consider yourself labeled a traitor and a fugitive." He said, his tone making it clear he was not joking. If athrun returned without the freedom or proof it was destroyed…he'd likely be shot on sight.

He nodded and bowed. "Of course sir. I`ll see to it the freedom is returned to the plants quickly." He said before turning around and leaving his father's office, plenty to think about on the ride back to his home.

_On the wings of an angel_

**Cosmic era 71, May 8****th****, unidentified island 2 hours away from JOSH-A**

The whole of the archangel's crew was currently standing on the island where they had set down in order to take a moment and assess their situation. Well…the whole of the crew aside from a few mechanics who were getting a jump on the repairs or gawking Nicols new machine.

Leading the mass of people were murrue, mu, Luke and Noah, everyone watching Kira walk down a small hill where his new machine, along with Nicols new blitz where parked.

Nicol was walking behind 3 men and a woman who were following Kira. His side arm was out and aimed at the hip at the group.

The four mystery people were the captains of the 4 vessels who had surrendered. The three men were Eurasian captains and the woman was wearing the black coat of a submarine carrier captain of zaft.

Everyone was tense as they watched the group walk towards them. Not only did their situation have them on edge, but Kira was wearing a ZAFT red flight suit and there was now a zaft vessel anchored in the waters just behind the archangel.

Finally Kira stopped and smiled as everyone from the archangel seemed to take a step forward, each wanting a look at Kira aside from Luke and Noah, both of which walked closer in order to get a look at the four captains who claimed their wished to join celestial being.

"I guess I arrived just in time." Said Kira simply.

"Is it…is it really you Kira?" asked murrue, still reeling over the fact not only was Noah alive…but Kira too! It was too good to be true! With them both back her soul felt a bit lighter given she now officially had only ever lost one member of her ships staff. She just hoped Kira's return didn't get miriallia's hopes up.

Kira nodded and within seconds everyone was surrounding him, asking him questions, exclaiming how surprised they were, and variations of both.

Finally murrue set a hand on his shoulder and smiled. It was all she could do to keep herself from crying.

"I'm sure you have a few million questions for me." Said Kira calmly.

Murrue nodded with a smile. "Just a few million."

"And I have questions I'd like to ask you. But first I want to clear the air about this suit. I`m not with zaft…" he said as he looked to mu who had opened his mouth to ask about it. He then looked back to murrue. "But I'm not with the earth forces either." He said with determination in his voice.

"then your joining celestial being right?" asked Nicol who brought everyone's attention back to him and the four captains waiting for everyone to clear the air with the coordinator who had seemingly returned from the dead.

Kira once more shook his head. "No. in fact I suppose you could say I have my own agenda to this war now. While I realize I will have to fight to protect my friends I intend to fight to bring this war to a close. Zaft or earth forces it won't matter, those that intend to harm my friends are my enemy. While this somewhat lines up with celestial beings point of view I can't join you because even with your advanced technology you still are quicker to kill your opponents then use that technology to disable them." He said before looking to the freedom.

"Lacus Clyne gave me this suit…this sword. And with it I intend to show both sides of this war that fighting has no purpose while also utilizing its power and accuracy to a point where I no longer have to shed any more blood." He said and as both Murdoch and murrue opened their mouths to speak he motioned towards the freedom.

"Before either of you ask, maintenance and resupplying the freedom can wait. What you need to know is that it is equipped with a neutron jammer canceller. What that means is that if you try to get specifics about the machine you will force me to leave. In truth neither side of this war needs such devices or that sort of power. So if you try to learn more about that device I will leave, even if it means having to fight you, I will NOT give up that machine or its secrets." He said firmly.

Murrue nodded and put her hand on his shoulder. "Very well. I assume that means you`ll want to maintain the machine on your own?" she asked. Kira nodded. "Fine…under no circumstances shall..." murrue stopped and turned as Noah tapped her shoulder.

"I'm sorry but with the N-jammer canceller being brought up and Kira mentioning that the machine should be maintained by him and him alone I should also mention…" Noah stopped and took a deep breath.

"While I'm, sure this will only add to your pile of questions for me, the same goes for the blitz jaeger. And not because it's celestial beings property…the machine…it has a gundanium shielded micro fission reactor powering it as well as is made of a metal known as gundanium. It is also capable of reverting to a plastic model as Murdoch saw me do with my Gabriel gundam. Therefore I will be performing all maintenance on any machine that celestial being personnel use." He stated

Murrue and mu both gulped audibly. 2…2 machines now were going to be on the archangel housing nuclear reactors. How the blitz worked was beyond them BUT murrue just nodded. "Understood…was that clear to everyone? All celestial being mobile suits as well as Kira's new machine are not to be touched under any circumstances!" called out murrue to which Murdoch and his mechanics nodded.

With all that handled murrue turned to the four captains, all of which saluted her oddly. She waved off the salute and smiled. "I believe Noah is the one you're supposed to speak with but I just want to ask you all one question. since my ship will likely be above you all as we travel to...well…wherever we head to next I am wanting to confirm I have your word we will not be fired upon." She stated to which all the captains nodded and she looked to Noah.

"Don't worry captain. Just like Nicol, should the archangel or any of her personnel come under attack by these people they will be signing a contract on behalf of their ship that they understand this will constitute an act of betrayal unless proven an accident and they will face the full might of celestial being…meaning they will be sunk." He said which all four captains seemed to shrink back at the death threat.

Captain Ramius nodded. "In that case I hope we can all work together to reach the end of the war alive and make this world a better place." She said before everyone began to disperse, small groups forming such as Kira and his friends beginning to discuss what all happened.

Noah meanwhile turned his attention to the four captains, the woman in specific. "You…you're a zaft captain and the sole one too accept my offer. The other three captains are technically earth forces…or were and therefore I have no doubt they have no ill will towards this ship. What guarantee do I have your ship is sincere in the fact you will be deserting your country, labeled traitors and unable to return to your homes, your families….why should I believe you won't try to shoot us in the back?" asked Noah.

The woman before him certainly was a coordinator in terms of looks. Shiny blue hair, slightly tanned skin. Her facial features made her out to be of Native American origin. She was around 5'5, a thinner body though her uniform betrayed her toned form to a degree. She had hazel eyes and an average sized bust.

His answer came in the form of a clip board holding a piece of paper that was covered in signatures. The zaft captain quickly saluted him. "Captain Rozene gentry's sir! While we were en route to this island I first did a…purge…of my bridge and then had this passed around the ship. Anyone whose name is not on that paper is currently filling our brig. Consider it a…petition to let us join you. Every name on that list understands where this war is going and is not willing to carry out genocide. This includes 3 of my four dinn pilot's sir." She stated as she relaxed once Noah waved off the salute.

Looking over the paper he saw names even signed on the sides and it was on both sides of the paper. He then heard her say 3 of 4 dinn pilots. "What happened to the fourth?" asked Noah, slightly interested to hear why he only had 3 members of a dinn squad now under his command.

"Turned out the squads leader was a radical…I'm sorry to say we lost 13 crew members to small arms fire as the radicals onboard tried physically fight the petition. So…this enough proof?" she asked.

Noah nodded. "I'll accept this. I will need every member to fill out a digital contract form but consider yourselves part of celestial being. What's the status of the three dinns?" he asked.

The captain turned to point to the freedom. "Due to this machine disabling them all FOUR are in the middle of repairs. But they should be ready to sortie again soon enough. Expecting trouble?" she asked.

Noah shook his head. "No I was just curious. No then…you three…"he said, looking to the earth alliance captains.

One of them stepped forward. "Captain Mathew Shannon sir. I speak for all three of our vessels when I say we are just a few small ships. While not all of our crew members may agree to working with coordinators we all do agree on the fact what the top brass tried to do is unforgivable. We may not have a petition but we all agree…any blue cosmos members or sympathizers will be dealt with." He stated promptly.

Noah nodded. "I want you all to know…celestial being does not take prisoners. This is not to say we execute everyone. Put them on life boats or keep them in the brig till we reach somewhere they can catch flights home, I don't care. Either way we will not be taking prisoners. Now…I'm glad you all have joined us and I sincerely hope that with your help we will bring this war to an end and hopefully make it so war leaves a sour taste in humanities mouth. Just like with rozene's crew, anyone actually joining us will need to fill out a formal contract but, and rezone this goes for you as well, I will not force your entire crew to join us. Anyone who does not agree with celestial beings ways and simply doesn't wish to fight for zaft or the earth forces anymore or just wants out of the war entirely is free to stay aboard till we reach somewhere again where they can catch rides home or we can decide what to do with them." He said, taking a breath after that small speech.

The four captains nodded and awaited their next orders. "all of you return to your ships, focus on repairs and getting contracts signed, Nicol will assist you all in getting devices set up for them to fill it all out." He said before turning to Nicol who nodded and began to usher the four captains back towards the blitz jaeger. Since not all the ships could properly dock at the small island Nicol had recovered each captain with his new machine and brought them ashore in its hands.

With that dealt with Noah smiled and turned towards the archangel. So far…so good. Now to go discuss the plans to head for orb with the good captain.

_On the wings of an angel_

**Cosmic era 71, may 8****th****, aprilius 1**

Athrun was silent as he approached the white symphony theater. Even in the plants artificial rain his mind was so confused he didn't notice the chill that had set over him. Reaching under his injured arm he made sure to have his pistol ready in case anything happened. But…this was lacus he was trying to find.

Could he really shoot her? Sure even when they were engaged it was a political one so she wasn't the love of his life…but…she was a good friend. And if he saw the video correctly it seemed she somehow saved his best friend…but…she also gave him the freedom.

"Why lacus…why did you give Kira that mobile suit?" he thought as he proceeded into the building.

Once inside he could hear lacus singing. The place was in ruins, even outside it looked as if word had gotten out by now she was being labeled a traitor and people had rioted likely, coming here to destroy the one place she truly shined.

But if all this really was true and not just a nightmare…perhaps she was more than just a talented singer…

A few more steps and athrun began listening to the music and stopped. This was the first song she had ever sung here. He looked down to the haro in his hand, unaware just how iconic it was for people like Noah and Luke and yet he had built so many for her as almost a subconscious way of saying, "yeah so…we are friends…and engaged so…here another gift to say I love you?"

Had they gotten married, had this all played out differently, even before this he wondered what their life would be like. They didn't love each other…well no more than close friends would. Would he follow his father into politics? Or perhaps she would follow her own father.

He stop that train of thought and pulled out his pistol, deciding to steel himself for just what may have to be done.

With that he quickened his pace up the stairs, intent on confronting the pink haired songstress.

As he entered the main hall he saw her. Lacus Clyne…the woman who may have saved his best friend and who was another close friend….was…now he wasn't sure. What was clear was she either had no clue she was being labeled as a traitor or she was more confident in her actions then he was as she sat on stage in one of her dresses, calmly singing, looking as beautiful as ever.

Acting like nothing was wrong, like the theater was packed with an audience listening intently to every word.

Finally he stopped and listened once more. He thought back to all that happened, in orb, afterwards, how he found Nicols symphony he had been writing….how him and Kira fought…

And when the image of his aegis exploding flashed through his mind he also remembered cagalli's words. He gripped his pistol tighter. "How does that line of thinking help anyone? If we kill one person then someone else will just come to kill us, then one of our friends will kill them….the cycle…it never ends…" thought the poor, confused teen.

It was at that moment he was brought out of his musing by the haro deciding to jump from his hand, bouncing to lacus who giggled and happily caught the toy.

"Mister pink you`ve returned! Thank you athrun, I just knew you`d be the one to find and bring him to me." Stated lacus as she finally acknowledged athruns presence.

With a slight growl athrun jumped onto the stage himself and glared at the pink haired princess. "Why lacus? Is everything I've heard true? Did you really assist an enemy spy in stealing the freedom?" he asked, raising his pistol to aim it at her head.

The girl simply smiled. "I see…so you`ve heard about it all then haven't you? I will say this, I did not provide assistance to an enemy spy." She said, still calm even with a gun pointed at her face.

"Then who did you give the mobile suit too?" he asked with anger in his tone.

"Kira yamato of course. I felt that giving him a new sword would benefit him far more then such a weapon would benefit the plants." She said which only made athrun madder.

"Kira's dead lacus…you couldn't have given it to him. And even if you did he will just take it back to the earth alliance and then you`ve handed them the keys to their nuclear arsenal. Can't you see lacus you`ve doomed your own people!" he shouted at her which oddly made her smile.

"Athrun zala…are you really so blind you`d believe everything your told…everything you`ve seen? Search your heart…deep down I know you hope that Kira took whatever chance he may have had at escaping the strike before you destroyed it?" she asked before her own face was coated in anger.

"Or have you fallen so deep into your fathers own twisted grasp that you are hoping you actually killed Kira?" she said as she glared at athrun.

"You're lying! Kira's dead! I shot him down! I destroyed the strike!" shouted athrun even as tears began to fill his eyes.

Lacus' expression softened and she smiled once more. "athrun…you are a kind soul…and I do not believe for one second that you would so mercilessly kill your own best friend even in the name of another. It is my belief that somewhere, somehow deep in your mind…before you escaped the aegis you shifted a control, pressed a button, something that gave Kira a slim hope of surviving with him being a coordinator." She said as she looked down at her haro.

"After the battle reverend malchio found him and brought him to the plants where my father had him treated in secret. When he awoke he told me of all that happened once I left the ship. Do you still not believe what I am saying? Or do you truly wish Kira was dead just so you can bury the guilt of having put him through so much pain just by waving him off as being gone from this world?" asked lacus as she stood up.

"So what is it you're fighting for? That medal you were given? Your father's orders? If you insist on following this blind path then you may as well shoot me now…because you will find myself and Kira as your enemies on the battlefield." Said lacus with determination in her voice as she pressed herself as close to him as possible, the gun he held pressed between her breasts, ready to strike a killing blow to her heart.

Athrun froze…he wasn't sure what to do here…what could he do? Could he really kill her? Could he really fight Kira again? And Noah was back…could he really say that if he thought on what celestial being was meant to stand for he couldn't see himself deserting and joining them…especially after what his father had done….what his father seemed ready to do?

_On the wings of an angel_

**Cosmic era 71, May 8****th****, archangel's bridge, 4 hours after fleeing operation spitbreak.**

"So that was their strategy?" asked Kira, dumbfounded after listening to Noah and Luke explain what they knew of the cyclops plan as well as mu's word directly from inside the base.

Noah and Luke had also just finished explaining Noah's return from the dead and how this was all…well...fantasy to them. It sounded like a bad time traveler BS story but basically while they couldn't say much of the future, it explained the reason Luke had known murrue's plan when they showed up and why Noah was prepared for the cyclops system.

Kira turned to Luke and Noah. "While I understand that you could have caused damage to our…timeline…if I'm understanding your explanation correctly, why didn't you warn us about all this?" he asked to which Noah smiled.

"I couldn't warn you guys directly…but…I did leave a few breadcrumbs for other parties to help you be prepared for what comes next. Even with what I just said, consider me and Luke observers from now on…and…"Noah stopped, looking to captain rezone and Mathew who had joined them as liaisons for the small battle group they had. "Please don't mention to anyone the fact that technically we as a cell of celestial being are…unsanctioned. I mean I know for the archangel crew this blows all my bull out of the water but it was the best I could come up with. It was that or I be an ONI spook with the earth forces that somehow has a more advanced machine, is a natural, AND can pilot said mobile suit with the skill of a coordinator. What do you believe more? My story about celestial being….or that?" asked Noah as he looked to Nicol then to murrue and mu.

Captain Ramius and mu looked to each other then back to Noah. "I guess the celestial being story is a bit more believable. I mean saying you grew up working with and building EX-caliber makes it believable that it would be tuned to where even you as a natural could pilot it. To think a spook could do that kinda damage in a more advanced suit then even the freedom…from what I understand even the g-pilots who were trained to use the gat series were still having issues with them when this whole mess started." Said mu who threw his hands up in the air.

"In truth I don't really care anymore. After what the brass just tried to do…someone with as strong a mobile suit as you could be a 10 year old prodigal genius who built the thing in his backyard and I'd just be happy you're not aiming those weapons at us." Said mu as he flung up his arms and showed he was ready to get back to business.

"Back to the original discussion though it's pretty obvious the top brass knew about zafts plan to attack Alaska. To take the time to build a cyclops system…that big of one too takes time. They had to have known for months and told no one. What was it you said Luke when you explained who all was defending the base?" asked mu as he looked to the young man who was silent till now.

"Hm? Oh I just said that along with them deeming the archangel a colossal failure they also left behind the small contingent of non-blue cosmos loyal Eurasian forces behind to defend the base. The cyclops system would take care of most of zafts forces as well as deal with all their own internal enemies all in one fell swoop." Said Luke before he looked to Noah who nodded.

Mu groaned and face palmed. "So this really was a sign of just how deep rooted blue cosmos has become in the Atlantic federation…"

Kira looked down in thought. "Zaft didn't know either…"he said before looking to Noah and Luke. "Just how far gone are we? Can this…universe even be saved?" he asked, trying to find the right words.

Noah nodded. "Cut off the head of both radical parties and you`ll have some peace time. It's how the series ends anyways. The downside is the radicals now have control over both camps…and they both are gearing up for a no mercy, no nonsense final battle. We are in the final months of the war, I will say that…but with me intervening I'm concerned both parties may be trying to take too many steroids and will over play their hands. There is also the zero system. If it rears its ugly head we could be facing…well…anything." Said Noah which caused Luke to raise an eyebrow.

"Define anything Noah." Said Luke, concerned himself now.

"Well the zero system has knowledge of every gundam series and now that it has evolved and begun intervening itself such as with Nina and her paladin or Heine and the guaiz….in the last days of the war we could see anything! Giant mobile armors like in universal century, or maybe something like the Libra battle station from wing….who knows." said Noah which caused everyone to grow concerned. "But that's also why we have our own backup waiting outside this simulation. If things get to hairy they will know about it and have been given permission to dive in utilizing a battle arena to only allow their models to break the fourth wall and join us in battle."

Luke noticed Noah didn't say anything about the genesis cannon and knew it was for their own good.

"For now we should worry about what we are gonna do next. We can't just sit here forever." Stated murrue as she looked at everyone in the room.

"We haven't been able to re-establish contact due to the n-jammers and the magnetic fields so we don't know what headquarters might want us to do." Stated their comms worker.

"Should we make repairs in the field like the ships behind us and just head to panama on our own?" asked Ensign Neumann.

Mu laughed at that comment. "Yes because they`d be so happy to see us. Not only do we know too much but we basically have sided with an enemy vessel. The moment they see rozene's ship they could have grounds to shoot us down then and there as traitors. Even if we did make it to port they'd sink her ship then come after us with a firing squad." Explained mu as he crossed his arms.

Murrue sighed. "Yes we'd likely be labeled traitors either way, stating we deserted under enemy fire and disobeyed orders." She said before sighing. "It's getting a lot harder to understand just who or what we are fighting for…"she stated but mu nudged her shoulder.

"No…today it became a lot clearer to me just who we are fighting for and I'm not too happy about it. In terms of what we are fighting for…at this point I'd say survival." he stated to which murrue nodded.

Kira also nodded. "It's clear to me what we should be fighting against now thanks to Luke and Noah explaining things." Said Kira and murrue looked up to him.

"And just what should we be fighting against?" she asked

"well…not so much against but we should be fighting to show the radical powers of both groups that this war needs to end, that enough blood has been shed. Whether you all follow my fighting style or not…one thing is clear. Patrick zala and the leader of blue cosmos need to be stopped." Stated Kira.

"Muruta azreal…the blonde spoiled brat and leader of blue cosmos." Said Noah.

Kira nodded. "Fine…muruta azreal and Patrick zala both need to be dealt with if this was is going to end. They are who we are fighting against, them and their ideals. And we should be fighting to show the world that it's time to end the war." Stated Kira to which everyone nodded.

After a moment of silence everyone began to leave the bridge aside from its base crew. They all had things they needed to do.

_On the wings of an angel_

"To orb?" asked murrue as she looked down at the coffee mug set on her desk.

The blonde ace pilot nodded. "Yeah…something tells me no one in this group is ready to run back to the military…and orb originally built this ship. Besides I think when Noah said he left breadcrumbs he meant something to do with orb. Call it a gut feeling."

Murrue took a sip of her coffee and sighed. "Speaking of Noah…he's…different now…isn't he." She said to which mu nodded.

"I don't know what happened for them, but he and the kid are completely different then when we thought they had died. And Noah it's not just cause he's more forthcoming about what all he knows…I don't know where to place it but he's just…different. It's like when he was here before he was just along for the ride. Now…he's here with a whole new drive." Said mu as he looked into his own cup of coffee.

"He's here for her….that girl who cried out for him over that open channel when he was shot down. I can see it in his eyes. He's happy to be back, I'd wager he even calls this place more home then his…well his own universe. But more importantly I don't think he'd have built such a powerful mobile suit without the intent on likely storming the plants to get her or even more disabling her like he did Nicol."

Mu nodded and sighed. "Speaking of that mobile suit…I saw it in action for just a moment. The raw power he has….it makes you wonder what he could do if he decided to say fuck it to this whole timeline thing and went on a rampage." Said mu which oddly cause murrue to giggle.

"Anytime we bring up his machine you always talk about how powerful it is and you start talking about what he could do if it got turned against us. I realize it's powerful but that's the point. Tell me you`ve never looked at his machine and felt like it was ready to jump into action at a moment's notice to defend us, to defend anyone." Said murrue as she took a sip of her coffee.

"I remember walking into the hangar and seeing EX-caliber docked between the strike and the blitz in Africa. Even after it began to show its damage, began to show the toll this war was taking on it it still looked ready to put itself in harm's way before Nicol or Kira could do anything in the strike or the blitz. Now…I don't know how much of that was watching him fight in it then seeing that custom battle damage combining with actual battle damage…but still I just remember feeling like it was here to put itself between humanity as a whole, coordinators and naturals alike, and the evils that would see us all tear each other apart just for such simple differences." Said murrue with a smile.

Mu chuckled. "Yeah…I still remember his speech in orbit, how he talked about how this war has boiled down to a pissing match between spoiled adults or something. After Alaska…I have to agree. Neither side is seeing their troops as troops anymore. They are just numbers on a paper with the number they care about being how many of the enemy died. A thousand troops could die with them only taking 100 coordinators and I'm sure blue cosmos would see all 1000 of those men and women as a justified sacrifice to kill those 100 coordinators. It's sick." Said mu with disgust in his voice as he spoke his thoughts on how the war was turning out.

Murrue sighed. "Perhaps Noah is what this war needs. Even if he could tell us just how it all ends…to think of how many more lives are likely to be lost before it ends…it makes me sick to my stomach to think I was such a good soldier that I didn't see any of this coming."

Once again mu nodded. "Yeah…me too captain…me too…" said mu before silence took hold of the room.

_On the wings of an angel_

"**Reality" date unknown, time unknown, 30 minutes since Noah and Luke entered the simulation. **

Riccardo Fellini, meijin Kawaguchi, Nils Neilson, and Mao yasaka all watched the battle arena's screens as it followed Noah and Luke in terms of how the simulation was going.

When they had watched Luke enter the archangel all four of them felt a pang of jealousy, mainly because they felt they may never get to experience that…well no…Fellini couldn't say that. After all he got to test this connection out when he took his fenice reniscita into the wing series and got to actually talk to qautre and duo. They had entered after the Siberia trap and found them in the desert.

Nils also couldn't say anything as he had actually met one of them, Noah being somewhat daring and having Fellini bring duo back with him by cutting the simulation with duo in his cockpit. It was a test to see if the cockpit did act as some kinda of pocket dimension almost, a doorway between worlds.

Sure enough duo was fine and watched them utilize the connection the arena had with the simulation to go in and grab deathscythe and bring it back out. To watch duo get all excited over having his "buddy" shrunk down to a size where he could have a miniature, working deathscythe on him at all times…well it was a sight to behold. Then again duo was likely the only pilot to react as such in any gundam universe. Anyone else would want to break the science down or just be astonished it happened at all. Duo, being the man-child he was, was begging to be able to build a deathscythe model while Nils had disassembled the miniature deathscythe to see if it would be just like nataku.

So given Noah would erase the "save data" after they were done, he let duo do just that and sent him back with it.

They all turned their heads when one of the cockpits opened. From the open cockpit they all watched as Noah stepped out, stretching as he did so. "Geez…that was intense." Said Noah as he finished stretching and looked to the other build fighters. "How long have I been gone?" he asked, curious if the time difference was the same.

Nils looked to his watch and said, "About 30 minutes…why?"

Noah blinked "because it's only been about 4 hours there since we left operation spitbreak and maybe 5 since I entered there. I was gone for months before I came back and according to Luke I was only gone a couple minutes. I wonder why there's such a difference…"stated Noah as he looked to the arena. It was currently fixed on the island where the archangel was parked.

Nils thought for a moment. "Perhaps the more refined crossover process has some effect on it? "He asked.

Noah shrugged. "I'm not sure, all I know is I am back to pick up some models. I managed to recruit some dinn pilots so I was thinking of giving them each custom suits and tasking them to defend specific area's during the assault on orb." Said Noah as he began stretching again.

"What did you have in mind if you don't mind me asking?" Said Mao as he took a step closer to Noah.

Noah blinked and shrugged. "A hy-gogg for sure, I want one of them in the water. I don't know if it's gonna be a true custom model but after fighting the aquatic mobile suits of zaft before I feel like the earth alliance should know the terror of being attacked by a Zeon mobile suit. Know where it all came from. Then I'm thinking a sniper, maybe based on the GM sniper 2 mixed with a GM striker. I know they are similar to the strike daggers but they won't be as specialized and I want the sniper to be able to defend himself in CQB." Said Noah to which everyone nodded. It sounded good so far.

"then for the third pilot I'm thinking some sort of custom zaku cannon, I mean he or she will be fighting amongst the astrays but I wanna keep it so they feel somewhat comfortable with the mono eye hopefully making them more comfortable piloting it. That one would be in the thick of things adding an artillery suit to the mix." Stated Noah. Again a sound strategy especially with some of them entering the mix. Sei was even supposed to show up and help though Fellini was thinking of waiting till the final battle to join just due to the natural power his mobile suit had.

Nil nodded and closed his eyes, picturing each suit as he figured Noah might make them, at least in terms of what he had seen Noah make so far. Opening his eyes he smiled. "Do you need any help with that?" he asked, knowing everyone in the room would be able to help Noah with any building he may have to do.

Noah shrugged. "Not really. I`m not gonna go all out with these, the whole idea I have is the battles of orb will be their test to see if they can handle custom mobile suits. If any or all of them survive I plan to give them custom command level suits but still mass produced. They survive till the end of the war they`ll launch into the battle of jachin duea in gundams…low grade but I mean I'm not trying to make an army here. Just at that point I want them to survive." Said Noah as he turned and continued out of the lab.

All four gunpla builders looked to each other before they dispersed from the arena's side, Nils going to work on some programming for the game version of Noah's program, Fellini went to catch up on gundam seed as it wasn't his biggest knowledge base.

Mao was sitting in the corner meditating, thinking of what to use in the coming battles as he wasn't like Fellini, he used strong gundams but wasn't about to turn away from the fight. And his double cross gundam was way outside Noah's pre-set rules for what can be used in the simulation. So he needed to figure out what he felt comfortable using.

Meijin Kawaguchi was tuning his old models, the zaku amazing and kampfer amazing. He planned to use these during his time fighting in the simulation as not only did they fit in Noah's rules but he felt he'd get a challenge using custom grunt suits in a warzone. He may have won three world championships and be a world renowned fighter but meijin Kawaguchi the third aka yuuki tatsuya was no fool. Even survival matches were nothing compared to somewhat real warzone.

_On the wings of an angel_

**Cosmic era 71, march 8****th****, 2 hours since the **_**St. Helens**_** deserted zaft**

Valeria galkina, a young Russian coordinator of 17 years old, was sitting in her DINN cockpit looking at a photo of her parents and sighed. She was a first generation coordinator, her parents unable to naturally conceive so they decided if she was going to come from a lab she may as well be a coordinator….they never sugarcoated their reasons for anything. Either way she wasn't exactly unhappy as a coordinator.

Because of that the brunette Russian was able to dodge her family's genetic bullets such as a history of being bipolar, weak immune systems…plus they weren't always the brightest people. She on the other hand was strong, fast, amazing with a computer and gifted in the written arts.

But this also meant her parents were naturals. And with everything that had been happening lately, with what Noah Carson had said and the latest moves of chairman zala…well it wasn't hard to put two and two together and see he was gearing up for a genocidal campaign.

She sent her parents an encrypted email explaining her defection and reasons before the ship was given maybe a BS tale of being sunk or before zala outright called them traitors. She also warned them they needed to get out of the plants.

There was a knock at the opening to her cockpit and she looked up, smiling when she saw her squad mate and the squad's new leader.

Cecil baker, a 2nd generation coordinator with Australian heritage, was the sweetest man she had ever met. While she was a short 5'3 and had brown eyes to match her hair he was blonde, blue eyes, a tall 6'1, and was muscular in physic. His entire image would scream a combat junkie and someone you don't wanna piss off.

Instead he was the opposite. A geek, a nerd, someone who was as talented a hacker as her but usually used it to access his online games while onboard their vessel without anyone knowing.

Cecil smiled back to her and took a step back but was leaned down to look into her cockpit. "Hey sorry to pull you from your thoughts but the big boss has called us to the legged ship…guess it's called the archangel. Anyways…no regrets right?" asked Cecil. The 30 year old had become somewhat of a big brother to her, mainly because their commander had been a grizzly old Russian who loved trashing naturals on the battlefield and made it clear even before the farce at JOSH-A he saw naturals as nothing but walking trash, something to be purged from the battlefield and from existence.

Valeria was a kind hearted girl like Cecil and so while she was an excellent fighter she was no red ace simply because she usually tried to give her opponents the chance to leave and live rather than kill them on the spot. Due to this she was regularly berated and harassed by their commander until Cecil would intervene.

The young coordinator nodded and climbed out of her cockpit, stashing the photo of her parents into her pocket. Cecil saw this and put a hand on her shoulder. "No regrets?" he asked again.

She nodded and as he removed his hand she looked into his eyes. "I signed that petition because of my parents…what about you? No regrets?" she asked.

Cecil gave a shit eating grin and scratched his cheek as he looked to her. "I may or may not technically be engaged…virtually but still I and the girl are crazy for each other. But she's a natural and if fighting for zaft means killing her I'll desert and join someone like Noah any day." Stated Cecil as they began to head out of the hangar.

Once they reached the exit hatch where a temporary ladder had been set up leading to a small boat dispatched from one of the now friendly earth forces vessels to transport them instead of using that custom blitz they had all seen they saw the third member of their squad to convert to celestial being.

Alfred larkin, another second generation coordinator, he was of a mixed English/American descent. There was no need to ask him why he was joining celestial being. He was raised in an old fashioned way, he was a gentlemen, a nice person, someone most men aspired to be. But when he joined zaft at the beginning of the war at the young age of 16 his personal code as a gentlemen got somewhat warped. He became damn near mute, most of the time spoke in a way that made you think deeply and question reality itself. But again he had a code…and enjoyed a good fight…a GOOD fight.

He wasn't one to slaughter people without mercy, he had on more than on occasion fired specifically AROUND an armor platoon because he felt using a GINN or now a DINN made fighting simple tanks unsporting. So he usually just forced the enemy to retreat when he could.

So to realize that the campaigns were about to become more and more on the side of genocide and less simply winning the war it was clear he no longer was loyal to zaft. The plants he still cared about, any coordinator would. But genocide was so far outside his code it was a wonder he hadn't been the one to put a bullet in their commanders head when he began ranting and raving at the captain, practically foaming at the mouth about her choice to desert and join celestial being.

Looking up Alfred nodded to them and stood from where he was leaning on the wall. Alfred was also their only red ace on the squad, the promotion recent and he was supposed to be transferred after operation spitbreak. Even the commander wasn't a red but he was also comical almost in how much fury he threw into his fighting style and more than once he had compromised a missing or destroyed their objective on accident. It was a surprise he still commanded a unit.

Cecil was only their commander instead of Alfred because of not only his age but Alfred had flat out said if they made him commander he'd outright quit zaft. Clearly he did not wish for the responsibilities of leading the two of them.

As they climbed down to the boat Valeria was the last one to begin down the ladder. Once she was out on the platform she was surprised at what she saw. The three earth alliance vessels had formed a defensive formation around the _St. Helens _with all their guns facing away from the ship.

She also could see lifeboats floating away from the ships, likely full of the blue cosmos sympathizers…but she spotted a few zaft ones as well. It seemed no one else would die today for their cause.

Once aboard the boat she saw captain rezone and one of the natural captains onboard. It seemed their team weren't the only ones summoned. Once she was seated the boat slowly picked up speed and headed towards the beach where a repurposed freight truck designed for hauling mobile suit parts around the hangar was waiting for them. She was curious why they all were going to meet their new boss…then again she also wanted to meet Noah Carson…the angel of death…

_On the wings of an angel_

**Archangel's meeting room, 30 minutes later. **

Valeria, Cecil, Alfred, captain Rozene and Mathew all sat in the meeting room of the archangel quietly. At the head of the table sat four plastic models along with what looked to be a few boxes of various modeling tools, small weapons and just an assortment of items designed specifically for the models.

Each model was quite plain compared to almost every machine onboard the legged ship…or as all the zaft members present now knew it was called, the archangel, but also each one looked to be something zaft would design and looked specialized…well two it was obvious what their specialization would be.

One held a sniper rifle in its hands and had a long handle coming up over its shoulder, likely some sort of staff on its back. The three coordinators could also make out what looked like canisters on its skirt armor, likely grenades. There was also a smaller handle peeking out the right side of the back skirt armor meaning it likely had a backup melee weapon stored there.

The next one was obviously an artillery suit. It had what looked like a cannon over its right shoulder, the left had a large Gatling gun. At its waist sat two rectangular boxes on either side with curved spaces that gave away the items as 2 tube missile launchers. In each hand seemed to be some form of an assault rifle.

The last machine was…well…to describe it as a sea monster would be best. Huge shoulder armor, long segmented arms and huge claws/ fingers…it didn't look too be heavily armed but the sight of such a machine certainly would cause terror in its opponents.

All three also sported zafts signature mono-eyes.

The fourth model was that of an odd looking ship, a sleek design, painted a fire red with white for a secondary color. It was large and clearly various panels could open to likely show intricate detail inside.

Sitting at the far end of the table was a young girl who seemed quite nervous about being there. Then behind all the models was the man himself, Noah Carson.

Everyone except the one girl in the room was quiet and waited to hear what he had to say.

Finally Noah seemed ready to speak as he flipped through the virtual documents that were on the tablet in his hand. He set the tablet down and looked first to Cecil, then to his right at Alfred, and lastly on Valeria herself. The angel of death was looking at her…the young girl couldn't help but feel a tinge of fear as she looked him in the eyes.

"So…first I'd like to address the now "baker" team. All three of you filled out your contracts to the letter. I`m glad. Before I go on I want you each to explain why you're joining celestial being. You three are the only real threat to this ship if you're not dedicated to joining us though I use the term threat loosely aside just from the fact you`ll be launching close enough to simply turn and fire a few rounds at the bridge and boom…your zaft heroes…if you can make it out of the firing range of the rest of celestial beings mobile suits." Said Noah before crossing his arms and waiting.

Cecil chuckled and decided to go first. "Well as the squads new leader I'll go first. To be honest it's kind of embarrassing but…well I'm technically engaged. I say technically cause…well it was on a computer game but I did have a real ring picked out for when we returned the Carpentaria…I was gonna take some leave time and go propose. She's just the most perfect girl in the whole earth sphere…but she's also a natural. If zaft is gonna start labeling all naturals as targets or whatever even if they are just anything like blue cosmos…then I want no part of that. I love her too much." Stated Cecil. Noah nodded and waited for the others to continue.

Alfred sighed. "There's no sport in genocide. I was raised a gentlemen, I find even shooting the earth forces stupid tank corps to be an insult simply for how simple it is…no offense. If you look at my record I'm only a zaft red because of my kill count of earth forces spaceships prior to being assigned to this team. Spaceships are fun and a good challenge. Tanks and little men with rocket launchers aren't. My kill count has barely gone up since my boots hit the ground. Genocide is no different. It is a maniacs and a coward's choice of warfare. I`ll have no part in slaughtering civilians." He said before leaning forward.

"To put it plainly I was just made a red and my new squad would likely have been tasked with such slaughter. Now if I had thought I'd have a chance to fight you? Even if I died I'd die a happy man knowing I finally found a challenge I couldn't overcome." He said before leaning back with a grin.

So…a guy just out for a challenge. Somewhat common in gundam but also someone who Noah could see easily following celestial beings views.

Finally Valeria had all eyes on her. She sighed and stood up. "My parents are nearly infertile. I`m a 1st generation coordinator, it's practically the only reason I'm a coordinator in the first place. I heard zala has been locking up naturals under false pretenses and considering anyone related too or helping naturals to be potential traitors and locking them up too. I`m not gonna fight for a military lead by someone so blind with rage he thinks my parents, simple bakers in aprilius one, would commit treason just by being naturals." She said before sitting down.

Ok…more info then Noah needed but hey…still just as good a cause to defect as any.

So basically they all were just natural friendly or anti-genocide. Good.

"Ok then….now captain rezone, Captain Mathew…status updates on ship conditions and how the radical situation is going?" He asked. Both captains opened files they both brought with them.

"the _St. Helens _is clear of radicals, we decided to offer them either a trip home once we reached...well wherever we are going next or they could leave now in lifeboats. They all chose lifeboats. We also have reached a consensus of about a 3 to 1 ratio amongst my crew in terms of actually joining and just simply staying with the ship to see this war to the end. Not one person opted to leave their posts and relax till they could get a lift home. As for the status of our ship? She's ready to sail whenever we head out, all the damage left is a few destroyed armaments and the repairs on our DINNs." Stated captain rezone before turning to Mathew.

He cleared his throat. "Just like the _St. Helens _we have zero radicals onboard, regrettably some took their own life while incarcerated but for the most part everyone left peacefully. While we have thinned our ranks a bit all three ships are ready to sail whenever you are. Though I will say we are still sporting damage, more than a few gun emplacements mind you, but nothing that will cause any of us to sink en route. "Stated the English captain.

Noah nodded and smiled. "Good. I`m glad to hear it. Now then with all that out of the way I'd like to welcome you to celestial being. Admittedly we aren't a military so please don't bother saluting, and expect quite a few life style changes, though compared to military life I assure you most are for the better." Said Noah before gently sliding the plastic model of the ship forward.

"I'll get to how we will get there shortly, but this will be our vessel once we reach space…and I promise you we will. Obviously this cannot hold the entire crews of all four ships comfortably, but I have a plan involving that. Some of you may not be happy with it, others will be but I promise you it will not involve genocide. A majority of your combined crews will be put on the archangel and will either fill vacant positions or await further orders once my plan becomes a reality." Said Noah before scratching the back of his neck with a look on his face of, 'now here's the bad news'.

"Celestial being is not meant to have a navy. We never were, never planned for it. We were to have ONE ship…but it was destroyed with Heliopolis. Hence why I kind of only had my daughter build a single ptolamaios kai model. And I'll explain why she built a model instead of us having a shipyard in a moment but suffice to say we have access to nearly unlimited supplies to a degree. But my plan to remedy the lack of space for a crew since I never planned on so many of you joining US…joining the archangel sure but instead to come to me and join celestial being…well anyways!" he exclaimed realizing he was getting off track.

He set his hands on the table and leaned forward, getting everyone's attention as they learned in as well. "We are going to hijack a few ships!" he said before standing up and throwing his arms up in the air with a smile. What he got in return were looks of confusion.

"Ok let me explain…"he says as he brings his arms down and moves out of the way of the briefing monitor. Grabbing a remote he flashed through pictures of various vessels.

"Once both camps reveal just how blood thirsty they are more ships are gonna seek us out to join either us or the archangel. Now here's part of my plan you may not like. Aside from the ship or two we hijack at first…obviously these ships may or may not be fully manned…so we will fill their ranks to start and therefore your crews will likely be spread out amongst what will be a small fleet. If we don't get any ships or only get a few and even then we don't get enough to join celestial being we will perform hit and run missions on zaft patrols till we capture at least 2 vessels or recruit them. Now again some of their crews may join us but otherwise we will simply fill the ranks or completely re-crew the ships." He said which got a surprised look from the former zaft members.

Mathew raised his hand and Noah nodded to let him speak. "Why zaft patrols? I mean all my crews are former earth forces…we won't know the zaft systems. We also have a few former mobile armor pilots who were re-assigned due to injuries or just various reasons the navy deemed them unfit to pilot anymore. Why not one zaft ships and one earth forces ship?" he asked

Noah nodded. "Good question. The answer is...how often do earth forces battle groups win over a zaft patrol…think of the wording I used before you answer." He said as he tried to let Mathew come to a realization Noah had when he was deciding how to fit everyone on ships without leaving them to be on the run on earth till the end of the war.

He saw Mathew realize what he meant and felt bad when the man's mood seemed to go down.

"Exactly. Earth forces only win when they massively outnumber zaft. But they now will have mobile suits soon, small spoiler, but zaft still is already prepared for mobile suit warfare. As much as I'd love to throw you guys in an earth forces ship I value your lives. Hence why the _St. Helens _crew will be spread out between the vessels, especially if we end up needing more than two." He stated which Mathew nodded too.

It made sense. Plus once Noah commandeered a strike dagger he planned to have Nicol and Kira convert the OS so that technically anyone could use it with a few simulations in any cockpit, even the likely GINN's CGUE's and GUAIZ's they'd pick up.

Now Cecil raised his hand and Noah motioned for him to speak. "So…what's up with the models?" he asked as he pointed to the three mobile suits. Noah blinked and looked down before chuckling.

"Oh right…almost forgot. Ok so…one benefit of joining celestial being is having basically spoilers in terms of what the future holds. Now none of you will get the full picture but I will tell you various things to help you prepare for what may or may not be coming. This is mostly due to the fact those spoilers will be altered by my presence, both sides of this war will be factoring me into any battles we fight, any mobile suits they field, anything of that sort." He said before he pushed the mobile suit models forward.

"Now then…you three…are going to get a choice of assignment for the battles of orb. Which here's your first spoiler…we are traveling to orb with the earth alliance following. Zaft will attack panama shortly in an attempt to capture their last mass driver. While they fail to take the base a GINN pilot sacrifices himself by flying a damaged HWS GINN into the drivers support beams and blowing it and his remaining payload up. With the loss of that mass driver they are going to finally come after orb for theirs. With muruta azreal at the head of the earth alliance he considers orbs traitors and allies of zaft since they refuse to help the earth alliance AND allow coordinators in their country. "Stated Noah, watching their reactions.

They all seemed calm, like this just became another briefing for their next mission.

"Now each of you will be assisting in a different part of the defenses while the city is evacuated. One of you will be piloting this custom "zaku striker". It's a zaku sniper base customized to be a decent fighter if things get to close. You`ll be positioned on one of their forested ridges overlooking the bay sniping enemy forces, leave the ships alone though as certain ones need to stay alive for the timeline. Now. Who wants to snipe?" he asked. All three were rated high in accuracy….so it didn't really matter.

Cecil and Alfred both looked to Valeria. She sighed. "I guess I am…I usually like hanging back anyways." she said as the girl, Noah's daughter, got up and brought her both the model and a data pad holding its current information.

"Ok…now the next will be piloting this custom zaku cannon named simply, "arsenal". You`ll be fighting with the main forces defending the beach and acting as AA fire for the ground forces." Said Noah, looking between Alfred and Cecil.

This time Alfred leaned forward and raised his hand. "I'll do it…as long as we aren't pulling some pansy fighting style like that one mobile suits pilot. We are free to kill yes?" he asked, sounding more blood thirsty then earlier.

Noah nodded. "Yes, your fighting style is your choice. I`d actually be worried by that question but after what you said earlier your just making sure you won't be reprimanded if you decide to kill right?" asked Noah. Alfred nodded.

"Yes sir. Non-lethal tactics in mobile suit combat would be a good challenge…but if the naturals have mobile suits I'm not gonna hold back." said the English American coordinator.

Noah then turned to Cecil as Alex brought him the hy-gogg and its tablet then gave Alfred his new "arsenal" and its tablet.

"Cecil you`ll be in the water then, engage anything and everything in the water that isn't orb forces. That model is a simply enhanced machine known as the hy-gogg. You can switch in the hands between beams and torpedoes and the claws are upgraded to be made of a material known as gundanium, meaning nothing is going to stop them and they can block a few beam sabers if you follow anyone onto the beach." Said Noah. Cecil smiled. It seemed he liked the idea of piloting a hy-gogg.

Noah then pulled out his new invention, the portable scanner. While there were only two simulation cockpits, so long as one of them was technically "set" to be here it acted as that pocket dimension, meaning multiple mobile suits could use the same cockpit. Of course he didn't bring that many GP-bases so he planned to have Erica slap together some cockpits for these machines or even better just transfer the DINN's cockpits into them.

"This…is a portable scanning machine. So the reason I know the future is…" Noah began as he explained everything to his new pilots and once more to his new captains. Oh…he was going to enjoy leading this version of celestial being.

_On the wings of an angel_

**Cosmic era 71, march 10****th****, 2 days since operation spitbreak. **

Athrun looked at the new consoles of his justice mobile suit. He had finally been cleared by medics to begin his mission and was all prepared…to defect. He had told no one but over the past 48 hours he thought about what lacus said, and about how his father was ready to kill her before even trying to bring her in.

His father was mad with power and was ready to kill every single natural in the earth sphere. But whether to join celestial being or join Kira…well…first he had to have a chat with his best friend. Yes…his best friend. He smiled. "Kira…if you really are alive I'm glad you have the freedom instead of my father. In his current state I don't know what that would be used for…and Nina…with the EX-caliber out of zafts hands at least we won't see those particles all over the world. The N-jammer cancellers are bad enough, the last thing we need is more of those." He thought as he began to pour the machine up. Under his seat was no longer the original standard issue zaft emergency bag. Instead he had thrown a duffle bag full of all he'd need to be on the run if need be. If celestial being wouldn't have him and Kira had gone back to the earth forces he would just take it and run. There was no need for either side to have such a machine, let alone for the naturals to have two!

Finally he was given the green light to launch and took a deep breath. "Athrun zala, justice, launching!" he exclaimed before pushing his throttle forward and boosting out of the hangar. Once outside he quickly set his course for earth. Time to set things straight with Kira.

_**On the wings of an angel**_

**So…what do you all think? I am not too good with lots and lots of characters but I don't know I saw that GINN pilot Kira tried to save and thought…there's not gonna be a cyclops system and they all would have seen the state the Gabriel was in after it's EMP. They all likely would think Noah basically brought a new, stronger angel of death machine into the war…only to destroy it to save them all. **

**When you see that and are offered a chance to join such a selfless man instead of committing genocide…would you take it? Or be a moron and decide you`ll try to take him down later?**

**Also a comment someone made, forgot their name at the moment, made me remember I never settled things with Alex' scavenger group and so in truth she'd be in harm's way. While it is still unnamed and not entirely ready to join the story, I figured bringing her in when he comes back with the DINN pilots new machines would be a good idea but she won't be a major player in the story and neither will any of these new characters.**

**Next chapter we get the beginning of the first battle of orb, along with them arriving and whatnot. This include Nina and Noah reuniting, Mu getting the build strike full package 2.0, and start of the end of the war. **

**BTW I want your opinion…if you were all comfortable and settled into a cozy seat on a navy carrier command bridge…of a carrier that ISN'T the flagship of the fleet even though you're leading the fleet due to your own paranoia…anyways lol if you had all this and just thought you were in complete control…**

**How would you react to the bridge of the carrier next to yours being taken clean off by what seems like nothing right after the apparent sniper…well gundam sniper tell you, "nice tie"**

**On a scale of 0 to 10 how freaked out would you be. Zero being it didn't faze you at all, you may as well be some super hero or I guess James bond comes to mind, sipping on a martini and just waiting for what come next, 10 being your pants are soaked, you`ve got a code brown going on and your likely running to the nearest lifeboat thinking your next.**

**Anyways read, review, the suggestion list/contest is still open for names of the new custom ptolamaios ship.**

**Also small after thought I'll admit, a load out for the Gabriel gundam!**

**X2 GN buster sword 2 "aka GN buster sword: a massive melee weapon that can be used as a shield, a sword, or mounted too the GN drives on the shoulders to be stored and used as extra protection aka…a shield again. The original 00 seven sword/g only had one and was able to use a GN field which basically is like extending its shield to have a large beam shield, blocking attacks from a single direction. Due to Noah's tuning and using two of these swords when stowed on the GN drives, Noah is able to copy tieria's mobile suit line and create a full GN field orb around himself.**

**X2 GN sword 2 blaster aka "GN buster sword 2": so admittedly I thought these were a new GN buster sword so I started calling them the buster sword 2 and I'm sticking with it. These are Noah's most destructive weapons due to the "hyper mirror" system and Noah will only use them during heavy fighting or when such a blast would eliminate a large obstacle or multiple opponents. Depending on how many particles Noah puts into the shot or if he drains his twin drives or his quan[T] GN drive into the shot his beams can reach any distance he is able to target, and the blast can rival that of up to half the twin buster rifles power aka the full power of the wing gundams buster rifle. Firing both at once at full power would overload the system and is ill advised except in a last resort situation.**

**X2 GN sword rifles: the main weapon of the harute gundam and usually only sold in the 1/144****th**** scale in terms of models. The Gabriel's base model and most of its weapons are 1/100****th**** scale so Noah had to remold and rebuild these weapons from scratch in that scale. Appearance why they look the same aside from color and have three modes. **

** Mode 1 rifle: in rifle mode these weapons are not much stronger then the GN submachinegun. The rifle is hidden under a sliding compartment at the top for easy transition.**

** Mode 2 scissors: in scissor mode the weapons take the shape of something akin to a straight edge pair of scissors. These are a pincer like weapon and like sandrocks heat shovel vice grip technique, are able to sheer mobile suits in half as well as excellent for cutting debris.**

** Mode 3 sword: in this mode the handle straighten out and the bottom of the rifle, lined with a condensed GN particle blade, is used in the same fashion as a sword. **

***continuation of the sword rifles. These are Noah's primary weapons**

**2 GN katar's: a pair of sharp edged weapons mounted on the Gabriel's legs. These are basically a triangular blade which can be held and used like a knuckle based weapon or combined to make the GN shield 2 OR make a double ended staff blade.**

**GN short sword 2: while not entirely intended to be a short sword, this originally replaced setsuna's beam dagger from the exia. For Noah it is merely a back-up weapon, with its projectile tip being mainly used like an anchor if he needs to pull himself to something or pull something to him. He will use his beam sabers and beam throwing daggers before this and the GN longsword 2.**

**GN long sword 2: an updated and enhanced version of the basic GN sword 2, this blade is ultimately an addition due to Noah's new fighting style and something to grab in a last ditch effort to win. **

**X6 GN sword bits: a modified set of sword bits' off a 00 quan[T] model, Noah has removed the handles off of them and made them all equal in size to about a medium length. This is due to being able to fit them on Gabriel's back and have all its armaments stored if need be, but also because he lacks a GN sword V so he has no use for their other features. These bits are required for the quantum leap system and the hyper mirror system to work.**

**X2 GN beam saber/throwing blade: varying in length depending on the amount of particles used to power them, Noah has the standard two on his back skirt armor for emergencies.**

**X2 GN wrist Vulcans: while not on the original 00 gundam, Noah added these prior to re-entering the cosmic era due to how useful they had been on EX-caliber. Like before these are low powered Vulcans and can also produce a small beam saber. **

**GN shield: the latest in GN shield tech from gundam 00, this acts not only as a binder/storage/recharge unit for the GN sword bit's, it also houses the third GN "well" and allows for Noah to utilize his advanced systems. Noah removed the small GN blaster at the top of the shield and opted instead to put an extra vent for when he uses the GN quantum EMP system so he could release the particles in a better fashion. **

**Systems:**

**X3 GN "well": a custom GN drive designed by Noah, by taking the GN drive cone at the top of the 00 seven sword/g's GN condensers, and combining them with them while utilizing his GP base to eliminate the difference between a GN drive and a GN condenser which is basically a GN drive but it does not produce its own particles. Instead a condenser sit's under the GN drive and feeds it particles. Once it's empty the GN drive can no longer function. By removing this difference he is able to literally put a GN drive on top of the condensers and like a rain barrel have it catch some GN particles, storing them for when he needs to release a lot of particles in one go. **

**Thus giving him enhanced capabilities due to the massive reservoir of GN particles for when the drives cannot produce enough to keep up with his needs.**

**Quantum leap system: this system allows Noah to utilize the quantum leap ability of the 00 [T] and travel between gundam universes. He can also use this during gunpla battles to move into any gundam universe to move around the field better or just for a change of fighting venue though this has risks as they may jump right into a battlefield and have more than each other to fight. He also uses this system to activate his hyper mirror system.**

**Hyper discharge system: this system is rather easy to explain. Having added extra panels to close off the release ports on the GN wells, Noah closes off these ports and has the well dump every particle it can into one single blast, whether it be from the third GN drive in the GN shield or the twin drive system. This also eliminates the need to charge for such shots and whereas this would normally drain a GN drive like trans-am, since Noah will only drain either the third drive or the twin drives he is able to rely on the others so as to reduce his drop in combat capabilities or instantly fire a second shot OR enter trans-am immediately after with no cooldown even if he just dropped out of trans-am instead of having fired the shot.**

**Hyper mirror system: this is another simple system to explain. Like the quantum leap system Noah creates a quantification ring thing with his GN sword bits. Instead of flying into it though he fires usually a hyper discharge shot through the portal. The bits then quantify it and follow it through, opening a new portal from the gundam Meta verse they just went through to allow said beam to re-enter the fight and hit the target from a new angle. This is a good way for him to create pincer attacks with his hyper discharge shots.**

**Trinity drive system: like the twin drive system all three of Noah's GN drives for the Gabriel must run in sync, therefore Noah sadly must always tune the drives before and after a fight in model form or else he can risk a destabilization. While this is not bad due to the fact tuned or not the twin drive system or the single GN drive will work fine on their own, this decreases his combat capabilities due to him being unable to draw on the system he is not using. **

**Zero system: while not an integral part of the Gabriel gundam the zero system still is imbedded in its OS' coding since without it the Gabriel gundam cannot function at full capacity or jump between gundam Meta verses. Having this system though is almost as dangerous as the real zero system due to its evolution into sentience and therefore it occasionally deciding to make its own changes too wherever Noah is which could help or hinder him. **


	19. when a good man goes to war

**When a good man goes to war**

***please excuse the lack of dates and places. This all takes place in the cosmic era. Also excuse any spots that contradict where characters should be, this chapter is a work in progress but for the most part it's here, just maybe a bit shuffled. **

**Hope you enjoy**

Nina and cagalli were panting as they ran through the complex. They had both just watched the archangel coming into its secret dock and had their own respective reasons for wanting to meet it. Of course the three earth alliance vessels and zaft submarine carrier had found docks in morgenroete's private port and would take turns in dry dock.

They both also had heard about Alaska and who all had come back and had to see for themselves just who was back from the dead. So as the gangplank linked with the ship both girls were there the moment the door opened and let them in.

Nina was following the blonde princess as she was new to the ship but they both had to nearly dive out of the way of a medical crew who were bringing patients off the ship for treatment but the moment they could they entered the elevator and began heading for what she assumed was the crew quarters.

Cagalli was clearly a woman with a mission and as they rounded a corner she took off and Nina slowed down, looking to see why. What she saw made her heart skip a beat as she heard cagalli shout, "you idiot!" before tackling a young brown haired boy to the ground.

She smiled though seeing who had been surrounding him. To his right had been the man she was here for and who she was slowly approaching. To his left was the green haired coordinator she read up as being Nicol Amalfi. Trailing them was another man who brown hair. She was unsure who he was.

Finally, Noah turned to see her and as he opened his mouth to say hi...or so she assumed she slapped him. When he brought his hand up to hold his cheek with a confused look on his face she sucker punched him in the gut and when he began to clutch his gut and double over she caught him and pressed her lips to his.

By the time she finished and pulled back cagalli had hit Kira on the chest and asked how he could do that to her. Meanwhile her eyes said the same thing to Noah. "The slap was for making me fall for you however that happened, the punch was for letting me kill you and the kiss was for somehow coming back in one piece. You're an asshole and I don't know or care how you are back but I'm pretty sure the world is better off for It." she stated before kissing him again.

Everyone seemed quite stunned by the display, Noah included as he blinked and fish mouthed for a moment. Finally, cagalli let Kira up and everyone once again began moving, cagalli and Nina just following the boys.

**When a good man goes to war**

a little over a half hour later cagalli and Kira were on the gangplank by the freedom talking while Noah explained to Nicol how to maintain his "gunpla" after revealing to them all just what he meant by the blitz could now be shrunk down to model size. From what Nina understood it sounded like unless this model was hit with a tight, coordinated barrage the metal it turned into was damn near indestructible to anything except for beams and even then it's core was protected by an anti-beam coated...coat...thing. When it was closed anyways.

She was astounded Noah could make such a device but after her and cagalli were read into his TRUE origins as well as Lukes she understood...kinda. She watched as Noah showed Nicol how to apply the paint that was basically the only maintenance it'd require. She also watched as Luke helped, she blushed to think about it but her future daughter repair Noah's Gabriel gundam with spare parts he made in advance.

They had spoken without worry in front of everyone about their relationship and he confirmed, proposal or not after the war she'd be Mrs. Carson...if they survived. It was shortly after that she met Alice, a girl he rescued from something called a "salvager group" a dirty, underhanded gunpla society that took advantage of prodigy builders who were young and naive and not exactly skilled fighters, wagering gunpla on rigged fights...rigged via hustling.

She was somewhat inspired by it and it reinforced her desire to be with him, to know he hustled a hustler but offered her a way out. She wanted to ask if he had a gunpla for her but she was confident he'd let her have EX-caliber once he found out it was repaired.

Walking over to Alice and Luke she looked at the complex design of the Gabriel and was astounded Noah could handle such a machine. She turned though when more people entered the hangar. It was three more people holding models...just how many people did he bring with him.

"Ah the baker team...good to see you guys came. I wasn't sure if it'd have to give another course on gunpla maintenance with you guys." said Noah as the group set their models down on the crates turned modeling benches.

One older gentlemen chuckled. "Well we got pretty familiar with them like you said, broke them down as carefully as we could and reassembled them. But we decided we don't really want to know how to maintain them." he said in a polite tone even if the comment was worded in a rude way.

Noah nodded and shrugged. "Fine. It makes sense. After all, once the second battle ends any of you that survive. Which I have full confidence you all will, you`ll need new machines that are designed for space which I plan to give you command level suits. Still mass produced but if you can survive till the end of the war you`ll have earned the title of gundam meister and will be given the option to make your own custom suits...within reason." he stated as he shook the man's hand.

Nina tapped Noah's shoulder and just smiled when he looked to her. "Oh right. Nina, this is the baker team. I'm sure you heard about the ships that defected to join celestial being? These three were dinn pilots who agreed to join us off the submarine carrier the _St. Helens._" he stated to which Nina nodded and reached out to each pilot to shake their hand.

The older gentlemen Noah had been speaking to spoke up. "My names Cecil baker. I'm the team leader." he sounded almost excited to say that.

The next male of the team simply nodded to her. "Alfred Larkin. Heard a bit about your bouts with our new boss. Can't wait to work with you." he stated before walking over to look at nicol's blitz jaeger. His accent made it clear to Nina he was of English decent.

The last member of the team, a young girl shook Nina's hand with a smile. "Valeria galkina. I think I'm the team's sniper at this point. I'll be backing you up on the field probably." she stated before seeming to shy away from the snow haired coordinator and follow her teammate's decision to observe the modelers working.

Cecil meanwhile turned back to Noah. "So in other words we are kind of earning our place here?" he asked as him and Noah walked off to the side and Nina turned to look over the freedom. She guessed if zaft had had time to study EX-caliber it wouldn't be nuclear powered but instead would be GN drive powered.

**When a good man goes to war**

It was a few hours later and Noah sat, once more bored out of his skull but this time listening as he was invited to a meeting with the lion of orb. They had just gotten done discussing the cyclops system, Noah pitching in and teasing them about Azrael's inside source to zafts plans.

He had to admit it was nice when the lion complimented him for having used his "quantum EMP" system to disable the cyclops bomb and save so many innocent lives. But sadly that was where he could see murrue and cagalli nearly lose their lunch when informed that zaft had lacked mercy with those left behind.

They also heard about the attack on panama and how zafts own EMP had destroyed the alliances mass driver. It was then he turned on the news and they got to hear the alliance's spin on what happened, claiming they fought to the last man and how horrible zaft and all coordinators were. Though celestial being was oddly left out he knew the alliance was fuming over his intervention.

"And now the alliance has begun insisting I assist them in resuming their supply lines to their space forces. While I am sympathetic to the soldiers left up there it would still look like we are siding with the earth forces to zaft and we would no longer be considered neutral." stated uzumi.

Noah nodded. "And I'm sure you left the archangel and all the defectors presence out even if they know you're harboring them. Though because of that they also know I am here and while I doubt it would deter him I can tell you now muruta azreal has no qualms attacking you. I'd suggest evacuating but I don't want there to be some mass panic especially with how many new fighters we will have to help defend orb." he stated as he leaned back in his chair.

Mu nodded. "Yeah. You knowing what's gonna happen helps but your right. If you start evacuating to early muruta might not attack since all the coordinators will be gone. As the leader of blue cosmos, mass driver or not that`s his true goal."

Uzumi nodded and sighed. "Yes...and to go along with their increased anti-coordinator rhetoric they are putting pressure on all the neutral nations to assist them out of loyalty to earth. Orb of course is not exception as our mass driver is the last one capable of moving the amount of cargo they would need in space." he stated with sorrow in his tone.

"We are being told if we don't join the alliance they will consider us traitors, enemies of the state and allies to zaft. I would sooner sign some form of protection agreement with celestial being then join them." he said angrily as his hands balled up into fists.

Noah nodded. "Sadly nothing like that is possible. There is one silver lining to their attack though. You have done nothing to incite violence or war. Because of this celestial being's code dictates we perform an armed intervention against the earth alliance if they attack under the fact there are inciting conflict and promoting war. In the first season of gundam 00 a nation uses that fact supposedly to their advantage to get celestial being to weaken their enemy states...but it backfires as they see through it and they attack the nation that was defecting because their defection was done to invoke conflict and war" he said. It was still something new to everyone, hearing about these other universes though cagalli was happy to know Kira and her father weren't the only ones in any universe to see such a war as pointless and... Well like Noah said in space, as a pissing match between adults who want ultimate power.

The lion of orb turned to Noah. "So then you`ll be defending orb not out of your own personal beliefs or outlook on this war but because of your organizations own creed?" he asked to which Noah shook his head.

"No I'd back your guy's either way but officially that is why we are attacking azreal." he stated.

Uzumi nodded. "And I thank you for that. With your organizations power you could easily take on both super powers and ignore us completely. But to know you would defend us in our time of need even without your creed makes me believe you and your group are exactly what this war needs."

With that everyone excused themselves from the office as they all had things to do to prepare for the coming attack.

**When a good man goes to war**

Athrun couldn't believe what he saw as he landed the justice at the josh-a base. Intact mobile suits of all types. Perfectly pristine tanks sitting where they had shut down. And as he walked the mobile suit through the battlefield he saw what looked like a massacre.

Corpses everywhere, the shell casings from GINN rifles accompanying them. His father really had given the order for no prisoners. What was worse...he could hear the laughter and cries of victory from the zaft soldiers. The screams of the naturals as they were gunned down. Hell he wasn't ignorant to what else the soldiers likely did before killing them. There was always that small percentage of soldiers who were sick and twisted.

As he traveled further into the complex he saw less and less destruction and more of what seemed like time had completely stopped.

Finally, he stopped the nuclear powered machine and opened his cockpit, stepping out just onto the platform to get a view not filtered through his cameras. When he did so something astounded him. He could see the GN particles hanging in the air. Not 48 hours since the attack and he could see the base was still flooded with them. The walls sparkled with them, the disabled machines shined with them.

Noah had clearly filled the base with the enigmatic particles.

Climbing back into the cockpit he took a deep breath as he sat down and contemplated his next move.

Kira was the freedom's new pilot. Noah was back and clearly more powerful than ever. If he found them would they attack on sight? Would Kira even try to talk to him? And Nicol...he heard he survived the fight. Would Nicol trust him?

Athrun sighed and began the journey out of the base, deciding to walk the suit out despite its speed. He needed time to think...

**When a good man goes to war**

Azreal could only grin as he listened to the reports from the earth alliance politicians. They were so scared of the fact they didn't have a mass driver. This was of no concern to him. Yes, it meant they would finally have a reason to act. Yes, they were finally pressuring neutral nations such as orb to join them...

But what made him giddy was the fact orb was being as stubborn as ever. He could only think of the three...no four prototypes they had designed, the fourth a modified version of the calamity to counter EX-caliber. The fact was once orb turned them down enough he'd get to unleash the biological CPU's he had made on Noah Carson and celestial being ad they were there.

He planned to capture that suit...that or capture one if it's special GN drives. With that they could jump their mobile suit technology ahead by decades! But first he had to get the politicians to stop pussyfooting around the issue.

Finally, he heard them mention the lion of orb and he had had enough. "Oh really? Are they stating they are neutral? Are they hiding behind the fact they are a sovereign nation?" he said before chuckling. "I don't understand how you can allow them to do that. While we worry about our troops they sit back and harbor mankind's enemy AND traitors AND the earth alliances biggest threat... or is that what you're afraid of? Does celestial being make you all piss your pants?" he asked

The men around him growled. "Before I even touch the remark about celestial being would you not refer to the coordinators in such an extremist way...we are not blue cosmos. And furthermore the fact celestial being is there and the archangel as well as the defectors makes no difference. Even if we told them to hand them over or we attack they could just kick them out and we would have to deal with Noah Carson either way." stated one man.

"And that makes a difference how? While admittedly it certainly isn't super original or well thought out as a way to handle Noah, did we not develop a mobile suit to counter him? I mean why make a weapon and then not use it?" he asked as he used his desks computer to show what footage they got of Noah's new machine.

This clearly irritated the man who accused him of being an extremist. "Maybe you are so blinded with arrogance you're not seeing WHY we even used the calamity as a base for that prototype." He stated, pointing to the screen as it replayed a clip of Noah firing his "hyper discharge" blast though they did not know its name at the time.

Azreal just shrugged. "I don't see anything wrong with a field test. I mean at this point in the war we can't ignore the fact with a nation like orb getting the luxury of being neutral we are basically fighting with one hand tied behind our back. Yes, they helped us design and build the original gat series but look at what we have since discovered they were building at the same time." He stated, bringing up images of a series of mobile suits their forces had come across. If Noah were there he could have informed them of the junk guild and the astray line of mobile suits.

"Our intelligence sources state they were found in the wreckage of Heliopolis…they built these right under our noses just like celestial being." He stated which got the other men whispering amongst themselves.

"So they were working on their own line of mobile suits? What does this change except they were preparing to defend themselves against zaft or now our own mobile suits? Not once has the lion made any moves towards potentially joining this war and I doubt he would have even if these managed to reach them." stated one man

Azreal nodded and shrugged again. "This may be true but still it is a sign they are willing to try and challenge us if needed. As I said being neutral is a luxury at this point in the war and if they won't help us then with these having been built under our noses how do we know they didn't help zaft or won't in the future?" he said, trying to anger the group. If they didn't see things his way, he knew they would give him what he wanted just to get him to shut up.

"Just what would you suggest we do? Orb is a sovereign nation, we can't just send a fleet to their doorstep and insist they help us."

The blonde haired extremist smirked. "Allow me to handle the negotiations. You`ll all be busy planning the raid on Victoria so why not take the issue of orb off your shoulders and let me deal with them." He stated.

"Deal with them? Just what do you have in mind azreal?"

"Why simple, if orb won't join us or at least hand over celestial being and the defectors then I'll just try out our new toys on them. After all, why just acquire one mass driver when two would speed things along quite nicely?" he asked as he stood up.

A vote was cast as he left and he heard them all agree. Good…. he had an invasion to plan…

**When a good man goes to war**

Cagalli looked around as she rode in the jeep. A small team of loggers and engineers along with herself, Nina and Erica were riding in a caravan following Noah and Kira in their mobile suits

In preparation of the invasion they were on a small mission to set up a sniper's perch for one of Noah's many "gunpla". It intrigued her just how much Noah both knew about her, knew about their world, and even more so watching him "scan in" his mobile suit apparently called the "GM commando" had certainly been interesting.

When he had explained his plan to her and Erica it seemed he had certainly planned quite the resistance effort. A sniper to start, then he had shown them a few he'd scan in on the move, and one they currently were evacuating one of the largest office buildings in orb to essentially destroy.

The two mobile suits were sure to duck and walk around and not just knock over every tree on the way to a small open space on the cliffs he planned to set up in. it was just big enough for the two mobile suits to stand in while the loggers and engineers would cut down trees and clear an area facing the bay for him to snipe from. Kira was here to use the freedom to help move the logs and its powerful thrusters to stir up the area once Noah was in position. Natural camouflage Noah called it. He already had his machine painted to fit in here, the dust and leaves and such that would coat him would help him blend in.

The active camouflage cloak he planned to have Kira lay over him also helped.

Finally, they reached the area. As the two mobile suits came to a stop, Noah's taking a knee and setting it's folded up mobile suit sized anti-material rifle down before she saw its green plate of a face power down.

He had explained just what he made the machine of. Apparently it was based on a "master grade GM sniper" with the torso of a gundam known as the "EZ8". From there he modified it to have a scaled up and modified version of the armor plating from a model someone else made known as the "GM sniper K9". The last major modifications were merging the EZ8's sensor suite on the right side of its head with the GM sniper's head.

Apparently for the gunpla battles him and Luke fought in it had some kinda of system that would launch four cases out into the arena, each with a random weapon in it. Since he couldn't do that here he put container on its back which once they were done setting up he would remove what he placed in it and then have Kira carry it back to the ship.

He had then proceeded to paint it obviously in the camo pattern it was now colored in. he then added two different sets of pistols to it, one a pair of revolvers, the other a pair of what looked like military side arms. After that he added blade after blade till it had a combat knife on its torso, a small knife on its right shoulder, a machete at his hip and he apparently replaced the beam sabers it held in compartments on its legs with throwing knives.

The machine was designed to devastate at long range but also be a one two punch in close quarters. Its last armament was a claw shield that he had not brought with him as he didn't want too much to have to hide. Instead he'd use another machine later to hide it in the city to grab after he was found.

Cagalli got out of the jeep she was in and watched the loggers get to work on the side of the clearing that face the bay. There wasn't much. After talking to Noah before even coming up here they had told him it would take just a few hours thanks to Kira moving the logs.

"I can't believe he came up with all this off an anime and some maps he picked up while he was here." Stated Erica as she watched Noah climb out of the top of his mobile suits torso and ride the lift down.

"I can. If he couldn't come up with this, he wouldn't have been creative enough or smart enough to make EX-caliber. Plus…" stated Nina as she watched her lover meet with Kira at the freedoms feet and start discussing where he'd move the logs too. "I wouldn't have fallen for him like I have. Hell…" she seemed to get slightly saddened as she voiced her thoughts. "I wouldn't be alive…wouldn't exist because he wouldn't have made the zero system." She stated as she took a breath and turned to the other two women.

Erica smiled and looked between the two younger women. "so…when should we tell them about the surprise we built?" she asked as she leaned back on the jeeps hood and looked to the engineers who were starting to work out a grid of the area Noah asked for so he could tell them where to place the sandbags that would help support his rifle as well as dig holes for the round armor plates on his mobile suits knees to rest in.

Nina smiled. "Let me tell Noah about EX-caliber. He already knows about the build strike but I doubt he realizes we rebuilt the original strike as well. Besides doesn't the build strike still have a few tweaks left to make before we can show mu?" she asked as the trio watched everything. Erica was here to help the engineers, cagalli just came to watch and Nina…well she wasn't planning to leave Noah's side anytime soon.

"Speaking of the zero system what if Noah made all these plans and it decides to change something and orb falls anyway?" asked cagalli.

Erica bit her lip. "Noah…plans to let orb fall anyways. He is just doing this so that more of orbs military forces can hopefully survive. He told me he knows the earth alliance won't quit till they have our mass driver…so he plans to destroy it once the archangel and his people leave. I guess his Gabriel gundam can break atmosphere on its own." Stated the brunette engineer.

Cagalli was taken back. He planned to let orb fall? "But with his forces we could push them back, keep orb safe…" she started but Nina held her hand up.

"Think cagalli, How much of the island will be destroyed? How many lives lost, innocent lives, civilian and soldier alike before the alliance gives up? Why not sacrifice the mass driver and leave the island as intact as possible for after the war rather than leave so many people homeless when they return, or even jobless?" she asked and cagalli realized she was asking for another Heliopolis.

"your right…after how angry I got at Nicol in Africa for zaft attacking Heliopolis…. how can I ask them to risk so much just so my people can come back to the same level of devastation…or worse be slaughtered because we failed and blue cosmos leads the military?" she asked.

Erica nodded. "Your father is already assembling a "mock" evacuation of the island. It will take time but since we know what will happen so far in advance we can make sure to keep the people as calm and unaware as possible. But again it will be slow going…." she said solemnly, knowing it won't be finished in time for the attack most likely but still more lives will be saved then lost.

"Well I guess back to the question of what if the zero system rears its head and brings in something that tips the battle in the earth alliances favor?" asked cagalli.

Nina and Erica shrugged. "Then we adapt. Noah has friends I guess with a way here without physically coming here but if things go south then they are waiting to help with their own models." Stated Nina.

Cagalli nodded and they all went silent, watching the first tree fall. This war had taken so much from so many people…she hated knowing it would still take more from her people. But at least Noah had a plan. That she was thankful for.

**When a good man goes to war**

Erica smiled as she looked at the faces of her audience. Noah, Kira, mu, cagalli and murrue were all standing in the same hangar the strike occupied during their first stay in orb. Except in front of them stood…well the strike, a different style strike, and something Noah never expected to ever see. And everyone except cagalli and Noah had various expressions of shock on their face.

"You all know the GAT-X105 strike. We found quite a few intact remains when we went looking for you Kira. We hauled them back here and decided with Noah and you gone we would try to expand the OS you developed with Nicol to the strike and if worst came to worst we would have cagalli pilot it. "Stated Erica as she turned to look to the gray colored, deactivated strike.

"Now for the unveiling of Noah's suggested creation and a gift for you mu…he seemed to figure you all would come here. You are looking at the GAT-X105/FP build strike full package 2.0. Noah if you want to explain it to him?" she asked as mu took a step towards the machine.

Noah cleared his throat and smiled. "Based on the original gundam my mentor's husband designed, the build strike full package is obviously a custom strike gundam. Sporting four CIWS in its head these are also slightly stronger, upgraded to more of an anti-personnel weapon they can easily shoot down small jets and destroy tanks and such but they also are capable of causing a small amount of damage to a mobile suit, even damaging joints and easily piercing and breaking targeting cameras such as the eyes in a mobile suit or on a weapon." He stated before taking a breath to continue.

"Next for weapons on the basic machine it has a pair of beam sabers at its hip. Sei Lori, the original designer felt the armor Schneider knives wouldn't fit the agile machine. Mounted on rotating mounts, like any beam saber the hilt is facing out for the machine to grab but in an up close and personal fight the mounting can rotate so the beam saber faces forward, allowing it to be activated on its mount in a surprise attack before being removed and used as intended."

"Now then onto the full machine. On its left arm is the chobam shield, designed with a small blaster in it, the shield is made up of layer upon layer of, in this case, phase shift armor. In gunpla form it is rated as having enough power to block what basically equals to a blast from the archangels gottfrieds or a couple shots from the strikes Agni cannon. But I'm not sure if that's the case here given the phase shift armor actually being weak to beam weaponry." Noah took another breath as he explained the new machine to the mobile armor pilot.

"In its right hand is just simply known as a variable beam rifle. With two barrels it can either fire a medium power shot from one barrel, low power repeater style fire from both barrels, and you can charge up a shot and fire a beam that would rival the Agni cannon." Stated Noah. The rifle clearly caught mu's attention as he spun around.

"How? With a rifle like that and all those thrusters…. I doubt its battery would last long." He said, concerned the machine was clearly not modified with "real world" physics in mind.

"I managed to work out the formula for gundanium alloy. Basically phase shift armor that doesn't need power. After a small incursion here after I got the zero system recoded to let me back in and my simulation cockpit fixed, in a test of my hyper leap system I went into the series gundam wing and brought the pilot known as duo here and his gundam deathscythe. The gundam is nuclear powered and I wanted to see if it would shut right down due to the N-jammers. Instead we deduced I was right to give her the formula to make just enough to make a casing for a nuclear reactor. It's why the build strike is bigger than the actual strike." He said and mu seemed to get concerned.

"Nuclear powered? Seriously? Don't we have enough of those in this universe? What if zaft or the earth forces got that formula?" he asked angrily.

"Don't worry, I destroyed all traces of the formula once we made enough to build the casing. No one will ever know how to make it without figuring it out on their own which I doubt they will." Stated Erica.

Mu nodded and then sighed, motioning for Noah to continue.

"As I was saying. It isn't powered by the reactor. The reactor is simply constantly feeding a battery system with power. The battery is strong enough to handle to power needed to fire everything at once if needed…but only once. After that it's like my trans-am system, you`ll be a bit sluggish while the battery recharges." Stated Noah before pointing to the blue wings.

"Unlike the strike, the full package set up includes a "core fighter" called the build booster. Now my design is unique. The cockpit and the fighter are integrated. A gimmick Sei had put in incase the build strike was destroyed was the fact the fighter could eject and continue fighting on its own. To keep that gimmick I made the cockpit of the fighter also the gundams cockpit. If the strike is to be destroyed or is damaged to the point you can't fight you can eject and use the build booster like a fighter. It can even land in the case the strike is destroyed." Said Noah. Mu seemed impressed but realized something.

"What if the fighter is compromised? If it goes so does the cockpit at that point." He stated.

Noah nodded. "I thought of that and added a back-up eject system. In the case that happens there is a "reverse eject button in which a small explosive in the hinges of the cockpit system will go off and will safely detach the fighter. Now the armaments of the fighter are simple. A pair of "large beam cannons" what can I say Sei didn't give those designations or anything. Anyways the other main difference is the fact he added a few thrusters and upgraded the main ones in the back. And lastly in the event you lose the booster you can still equip strike packages." He stated and finally stayed quiet to let me ask any questions.

"I only have one question…" he said as he turned to face Noah. "When can I start trying to pilot it? I assume it has a modified OS from those astrays or else I couldn't pilot it." He said with a smile.

"As soon as the commando is set in place you can start training with Kira. The freedom will be a better sparring partner for you then my Gabriel gundam." he stated.

Nina meanwhile came up and wrapped her arms around Noah's waist. "And I managed to recuse ex-caliber from zaft. Mind if we talk about it in private?" she asked quietly. Noah nodded and they began to leave while the rest of them began examining the three machines.

**When a good man goes to war**

Murrue sighed as she sat in the hangar of the archangel. She was doing so to think while looking at the blitz jaeger. Noah's Gabriel gundam was still in repairs supposedly in the mess hall. She had been confused when she was told that till she went to see what Murdoch meant.

She looked down at her hand. She had gotten to hold the Gabriel gundam in her hand. It was in worse shape than EX-caliber in Africa but to watch Alice, Noah's new adopted daughter, apply a fresh coat of something call "decal setter" to what she now knew was the celestial being emblem on part of Noah's spare parts it somehow brought back memories of her first time piloting the strike…her only time piloting it actually. What if Noah's story had been true? What if this haptic cockpit he had had been in the strike? Would she have needed Kira to pilot the gundam? Would she have become its pilot instead of the captain of the ship?

She smiled and looked back to Nicol's new gundam. No…she liked how things played out. They had had a rough go of it…but even zaft stealing the prototypes…she'd endure it all again so long as Noah came back as well.

She felt a hand be placed on her shoulder and looked up to see mu la flaga standing there, that stupid grin on his face. She felt her heart flutter for a moment. Was she falling in love?

The mobile armor pilot sat on a crate next to her and looked to the white mobile suit. "nuclear powered…made of a metal that is four times stronger than titanium yet lighter over-all and impervious to ballistic damage short of a sustained, pinpoint barrage. And resistant to beams to boot but not impervious." He said casually before looking to her. "I have to admit…I'm a bit jealous. I got to see it in action. I guess Luke was piloting it to clear the hangar I was in. guy stood in front of a CGUE and 3 DINNS, all firing at him like crazy. Bullets bounced off him like it was nothing." He said before taking a breath.

"He then proceeded to trash all four machines like they were nothing and even kicked the remains out of my flight path." He stated.

Murrue nodded. "Sounds like we are lucky it's on our side." She said with a smile before mu patted her back.

"So…we are no longer in the military so the regs about fraternization no longer apply. And with that in mind I want to invite YOU out to lunch at this nice burger joint I found last time I was here. And if you say no it's gonna break my heart." He said, acting like she already had said no and clutching his chest in fake agony.

She giggled at that. "You are correct that the regulations don't apply anymore but that doesn't guarantee I want to date a fighter pilot or a mobile armor ace or whatever you are now." She said, not hiding a playful tone as he frowned. As she saw him frown she jumped to her feet and smiled. "I'd love to grab a burger with you mister la flaga. But know I am not one to be flattered into anything on the first date." She stated which made him jump to his feet in joy.

When she made the comment about being flattered into anything he gasped jokingly. "Flatter you into anything on the first date? Miss Ramius how can you think I'd be so crude as to do such a thing. I`d wait at least till the second date before I got you all liquored up and started trying that." He said jokingly before she punched him in the arm.

"Just for that you're buying desert afterwards too. And second date? Please I'm a third date kind of girl…if there's even a second date." She said before walking off, mu happily following with a chuckle.

"I am a gentleman for your information. I wait for the fourth date for any of that." He continued to play.

"Not even a kiss?" she asked.

He smirked. "Well…maybe date number 2 for that." And with that they left the hangar to go enjoy the afternoon together.

**When a good man goes to war**

Azreal was practically jumping for joy at what he was watching. He was on the deck of the carrier he would be setting up on and watching as the biological CPU's were escorted onboard and their machines loaded into the first retrofitted carrier to hold mobile suits along with its company of strike daggers.

He couldn't wait till his fleet was ready to make the trip to orbs territorial waters. He wanted to see how celestial being, no... How Noah Carson would react to their presence.

"Noah Carson…you may have the most powerful mobile suit in the cosmic era…but soon it will be mine." He said with a cruel smirk. Those filthy creatures wouldn't know what hit them once he had that machine.

Soon…soon…

**When a good man goes to war**

After a lunch break, and the visit to morgenroete, Noah finally got the call that the location for the GM commando was ready to be set up. So as Kira moved the last few logs to a nearby pile he had built Noah wiped his forehead of sweat and looked at his machine. Still kneeling near the tree line it looked to be surveying the scene.

Noah had decided to help pile the sandbags up after him and the engineers did the math to know just where he would put everything to be perfectly positioned to snipe the earth alliance fleet.

After about another hour work the sun began to set and they were finally done. Cagalli had returned and watched as Noah got back into his machine and stood it up. An engineer guided him into position and he slowly and carefully took a knee once more, the holes lining up perfectly with his knee as Kira came back and landed behind him.

It was amazing for the fiery princess to watch Kira remove the large white pack of the GM commando's pack. The freedom walked around to the front of Noah's machine and set the pack down for Noah to open.

Her eyes went wide as he opened it and pulled out multiple items. She expected a weapon broken down into pieces. Instead Noah pulled out two cases of what looked like stacks of mines, along with two large cylinders, a couple of large, narrow boxes that were clearly magazines for one of his weapons and then a large box that looked like a container of ammo.

One he placed it all in the spots he marked he closed the container and she watched the strike lift it and move it aside.

"Everyone brace yourself for this. The ground may shake a little." Called out Noah from his machines speakers.

The gundam reached out and grabbed his folded up sniper rifle. Setting the weapon in its designated spot he pulled the lever and cagalli's eyes went wide as she watched the main rifle and the long barrel fell like a tree to the ground, the bi-pod and piles of sand bags catching it as it hit the ground.

Cagalli hadn't braced herself and found herself falling to her knee. Slowly she stood back up and watched as Noah opened the freight container sized box and pulled the slide of the rifle back and locked it into place. The mobile suit then began hand loading in train engine sized bullet after bullet, the built in magazine extending till it had filled and he carefully locked the slide back into place, closed the ammo container and moved it out of the way.

Once that was done Noah maneuvered the machine to lay down beside the rifle, lining it up the other knee sunk down into the holes for its reactive armor and the head was able to look into the scope of the rifle, syncing its visuals to account for the zoom of the scope.

Once that was done she had to cover her face with her arms as the wind picked up, saw dust, leaves, even small branches beginning to scatter everywhere as the freedom's wings opened up, it's thrusters slowly picking up as it bent down. Then with a jump the freedom took off and flew away, Noah's container in hand.

As she lowered her arms she smiled. Just as Noah wanted the GM commando was covered in debris, it almost looked like it had been laying there for ages…not moments. She watched Noah get out of his machine and walk over to her.

"Well tomorrow we can get the active camouflage cover over it and then I can start working on the rest of my plans." He stated before getting in the jeep. Cagalli got in with him and smiled. "Noah I want to thank you again. You're doing so much and this isn't even your home." She stated to which Noah shook his head.

"No. while I may be from another…dimension or universe or whatever…I consider orb my home…mainly because after this war everyone settles here obviously. I want to marry Nina after the war, settle down here, and open a plastic model store and a laboratory. Have kids…enjoy the 2-year reprieve considering I'll have enough pilots I won't have to lead from the front lines till gundam seed destiny. Just promise me this. I will store the Gabriel gundam here as a model obviously…but I want to be orbs first line of defense. All my models will be at my disposal so I want you to promise me autonomy to act as I wish and not get chewed out by someone anytime I launch before anyone else." Stated Noah.

"Agreed. Just promise to keep any fighting away from the cities and from the general population." Said cagalli with a smile. Noah nodded happily.

**When a good man goes to war**

Unlike the month Noah thought they had, almost as if they knew he had finished setting things up and that the main city's evacuation was underway the alliance sent the message he dreaded. The demands that would prelude their attack.

The room was tense as uzumi read off the alliances demands to the council or senate or whatever they were. Noah didn't know or care. All he wanted to know was what changes were made given celestial being was here with the archangel.

"And lastly, orb will surrender both the zaft vessel in their harbor and celestial being to the approaching Atlantic federation fleet. Should these demands not be met within 48 hours we will have no choice but to assume you are a supporter of zaft and will confront your nation with force." Stated uzumi before he growled. "Those dogs. Are they so desperate for war that they would show their true colors to us with such abandon?" he asked rhetorically.

"We have reports of other neutral nations giving in and joining them. A fleet is already on its way here. At this point no one is willing to challenge the Atlantic federation. I supposed it was only a matter of time till they ran down their list to us one last time." Stated one of uzumi's cabinet members.

"It's just as you said it would be. I am thankful for your warnings." Stated uzumi as he turned to Noah who simply nodded.

"Lord Uzumi we also have word that zafts Victoria base has caught wind of what is happening and wants to have a meeting with you." Said another cabinet member.

"The world is being divided into two armed camps because of the Atlantic federation. Damn them." Shouted uzumi before he slammed his fist onto the table.

"Lord Uzumi. My people are currently preparing our ship so we will be ready to leave if needed. In the meantime, please allow me us to help." Said Noah. He had captain Rozene and Mathew behind him. Mathew stepped forward though and saluted.

Noah blinked and raised an eyebrow at him. "What's up cap?" he asked casually as Mathew remembered they were quite informal and relaxed.

"Sir with all due respect I spoke with the other former earth alliance captains. While we are honored you decided to help us escape the monsters that now rule our military…we are just humble sailors. We would like to offer to join orbs fleet in the defense operation instead of abandoning our posts and getting in your ship or the archangel. There's just not enough room for us all and to be honest…we'd rather die defending orb from those monsters then in space onboard any zaft vessels you may hijack as per your plan. Please allow us to help." He stated.

Noah sighed. "Three more ships won't make much difference…but I understand where you're coming from. Permission granted. Go inform the others and coordinate with the orb navy." He stated before Captain Mathew nodded and left. "Captain Rozene go inform your crew they will be taking over as the crew of the _purgatory_." He stated. The coordinator naval captain nodded and left as well.

"With that out of the way lord uzumi I do not wish for you to think we are tucking our tail between our legs and running. Given my technology my people still need to learn how to operate it and get it running. This is why I am having them prepare the ship now. My pilots though are at your disposal." Said Noah as he tried to remember just how the first battle went to know where to position everyone.

The lion of orb placed his hand on Noah's shoulder and smiled. "Thank you for your support. But I'll let you handle what your people do. All those in favor of following the plan previously brought forward by Noah say I!" called our uzumi. The vote was unanimous. "Go get everything ready. I`ll handle things on orbs end. You just make sure to protect as many lives as possible." Said the lion of orb and Noah nodded before leaving. Uzumi turned back to his cabinet and sighed as everyone stood up. "We all know what we must do…get Erica on the phone…I have on last request for her." He requested of his secretary.

**When a good man goes to war**

Athrun landed the justice once more on the small island where the world seemed to end for so many people.

He walked through what ruins remained. Not much was left, the aegis' head, the duels main frame and a leg, the foot and shoulder of the aegis.

He thought back to that day. All the fighting. He thought back to his brawl with Kira and how he seemed to lose control when he watched the duel explode on his monitor. He remembered yzak crying out when Nicol destroyed his girlfriend.

He remembered Nina and how she reacted to Noah's destruction.

As he surveyed it all he contemplated on what would have happened if this whole fight had ended in a stalemate. If like always everyone just went back to their ships to lick their wounds. What would he be doing now if he had killed Kira? How would he feel?

He found his hand resting on his sidearm and it was all the more reason he was glad Kira survived. By whatever miracle or god that helped him he survived. But still he was surprised not to find much wreckage of the strike. Had orb claimed it and rebuilt it?

Deciding he needed to think he walked over to where the aegis head had landed and sat down cross legged, closing his eyes to think on it all, try and make sense of where his heart was trying to take him.

**When a good man goes to war**

Murrue sighed as she looked at her crew as well as Noah's crew aka the crew of the _St. Helens. _They were all so young and had seen so much. She hoped this would help them find peace…no matter what they chose.

"The earth alliance has sent a fleet out towards orb, under the guise of a demand that if they do not surrender us and themselves or the earth alliance and side with them in this war…. they will attack. Thanks to Noah we are certain no matter what diplomatic offers orb made or tried there will not be any scenario where this ends peacefully. A man named muruta azreal leads blue cosmos and this fleet. His true agenda will be three fold, capture a celestial being mobile suit, capture Kira and the freedom, or at the very least eliminate as much of the coordinator population as possible." Stated murrue, letting it all sink in.

"That's impossible. Orb is a neutral, sovereign nation. They can't just make demands like that." Shouted a crewman.

"While normally this is true we are dealing with an extremist. He doesn't care what happens so long as his ideals are fulfilled. Orb has ordered an evacuation of the island in case of a worst case scenario. Because of this I would like to offer you all a choice. While it's true no matter what happens you will all be deemed deserters. There's no getting around that. But while you may not agree with our governments views at the moment or maybe you do…or maybe you would prefer celestial being's outlook on the situation…I cannot force you to stay aboard this ship if you do not wish to. We will be aiding in orbs defense, putting out lives on the line once more. But because we are no longer in the military I am offering you the choice. You are free to leave if you wish and evacuate with the rest of the civilians. I will not hold it against you nor will anyone here. But if you choose to stay and help us you will have my deepest thanks and I will do everything I can to make sure everyone gets out of this alive." Stated murrue before turning to Noah.

"While you all signed contracts and such with celestial being the same goes for you. The former earth alliance naval crews have all decided to help defend orb. The _purgatory _will need a crew. If you choose to stay you will be serving aboard it once we have it up and running. So while unlike the archangel's crew you will not be in immediate danger…if they discover where the ship is dry docked you will all be rather easy targets unless we can get the ships defenses up and running. Because of this I offer you the same option. I won't ask you to risk certain death if they find you just to keep the ship fully staffed." Stated Noah as both him and murrue waited to see what everyone would do.

The hangar filled with whispering as everyone decided what they would do. Murrue and Noah could only wait and see who stayed and who left.

**When a good man goes to war**

Nicol rapped on the bars of dearka's cell. The tan coordinator looked up and groaned. "What now? Here to try and recruit me again. It may have been a while since last time but my mind hasn't changed." Stated Dearka.

Nicol shook his head and reached into his pocket, setting down a bleach white device with a blue transparent disk onto, a device like the one he had heard about Noah Carson having, and a large black box.

"I'm not going to try and recruit you…but Noah seems certain you`ll join either us or the archangel. He claims you and miriallia are quite the couple in the coming months. So he told me to bring you these. It's a GP base with your new machines OS coded into it, a portable scanner, standard issue now for all celestial being gundam meisters, and the box contains your gunpla known as the "buster panzer" and the uniform he had made on my recommendations for sizes. He had it made, I just guess what size you`d be so I hope it fits." Stated Nicol as he took a step back.

"And what if I take all this back to zaft? I`d be considered a hero for getting all this tech to them." He stated, confused as to why he was being given these things.

Nicol shrugged. "I guess we will see. I mean Noah built it…so I guess he can easily destroy it? Anyways just…think about it. He said you`d try to go get the buster…it's being loaded onto the _purgatory. _Our new ship. If you choose to join us just put the model on the scanning device then pressed the blue button at the bottom of the screen on the GP-base, it`ll scan the buster and load it in…" he said, getting a confused look from Dearka.

"Just trust me you`ll understand if you do it. Anyways once you get to the cockpit a stand will pop up in the center. Place the GP base on it, get used to the controls, and then join us." He said before leaving, not giving Dearka enough time to ask any questions as he got up and walked to his cell bars.

Just as he did so miriallia walked in and blinked. "I guess Nicol came and spoke to you. Move back for a second." She demanded and Dearka did as she asked.

"What's going on? Transfer or questioning?" he asked, concerned Nicol had just been some kind of pillow for bad news.

The brunette shook her head as she opened his cell and walked in. "the ship is about to go into battle. We are no longer part of the military so you're no longer a POW. You're free to go." She said, tossing him his old flight suit.

"Where? I mean I know all about your ship…you're not afraid I'll go back to zaft?" he asked.

She glared at him. "I personally don't care. Orb is evacuating for the battle against the earth alliance. Join them and flee or go take a row boat out into the ocean…" she said, coldly, turning to look to Nicol's gift. "Or join celestial being. I. DON'T. CARE. Just go." she said before leaving, his cell door wide open.

The blonde teen sighed and glanced to the "recruitment package" his former teammate left him. Did she really want him gone? Did she hate him? Or did his comment about going back to zaft upset her? Either way he walked out of his cell, grabbing the items left for him and deciding to find his way off this ship for now.

**When a good man goes to war**

"Your demands are unjust and for this reason orb cannot agree to your terms of surrender nor shall we abandon our principles or our rights as a neutral and sovereign nation." Read azreal with a chuckle. "You know I was worried for a second there he might actually give in. I mean if he had we wouldn't get to perform out little test. But leave it to uzumi nara atha to never betray my expectations of him." Stated the blonde brat as he wadded up the sheet of paper and took his seat overlooking the intended battlefield.

"Let's just hope they don't give up till the bitter end." He said, malice in his tone as the captain of his carrier walked up.

"Lord Azreal…we have Noah Carson on the line asking for you specifically." Stated the captain.

"Put him through. I want to hear his likely speech about how horrible this will end for us." He chuckled. Oh how this would be entertaining.

**When a good man goes to war**

Noah flexed his hands as he once again sat in the seat of his GM commando's cockpit. Resting his hands on the controls he opened an open communication line with azreals ship or the one he assumed was his.

As he fired up his targeting protocols he switched to the camera he had planted outside to make sure his camo blanket was working. Sure enough all the camera saw was a pile of sticks, branches, twigs and leaves where his gundam should be.

His brilliance was rewarded with muruta azreals face filling his screen. "Muruta azreal, Leader of blue cosmos and negotiator for this assault. Nice to finally meet you." He said politely as his scope began to zoom in setting by setting on another monitor.

"To what do I owe the honor of speaking with the head of celestial being? Here to tell me how horrible a person I am? How you`ll fight till your dying breath to see me dead and see blue cosmos' smoldering g ashes?"

Noah shook his head. "While yes you are a racist, narcissistic asshat of a man and deserve to burn in the deepest pits of hell I thought I'd inform you that if you continue to follow your course of action celestial being will have no choice but to perform an armed intervention." Stated Noah as finally he got what he wanted.

In the center of his scope sat muruta azreal. Calm, confident, not any bit aware he was being watched. Perfect.

"Oh? And what course of action are we taking that would cause you to do such a thing?" he asked innocently

Noah smirked. "Orb is a neutral nation as had done nothing to incite this attack." Stated Noah but before he could finish muruta decided to interrupt him.

"Not true. We gave them fair warning this would happen if they did not join us. They are a nation of earth and should be supporting our cause. Being neutral is simply a luxury that can no longer be tolerated." He stated, arms raised like he had no clue why Noah was so upset.

"Bullshit. You knew this would happen. You knew they would defend their beliefs to the very end. By giving them such an ultimatum you are inciting conflict and performing an act of aggression. Turn the ships around now or celestial being will begin an armed intervention." Stated Noah. As he did so his team comm channel opened up and he heard the baker team announce they were in position.

"And what about orb? Their guns are already drawn…"

"In defense. I will only ask one. More. Time. Turn the ships around or we will make you turn them around. You have been warned." Stated Noah as he took a breath and shifted his aim to the carrier next to azreal, feeling somewhat sorry for the captain as he could already be seen barking orders.

"I think not. Give us your best shot "angel of death" or whatever you want to call yourself." He stated with a smirk.

"Fine…I did warn you. Oh and azreal…nice tie." said Noah before he pulled the trigger.

And with that the first shot was fired….

**When a good man goes to war**

Muruta was jumping for joy internally. He was being threatened by Noah Carson. Oh how much more perfect could this get? It was exactly like he hoped it would be…. till Noah said he had a nice tie.

A moment later the bridge was frantically looking around as a loud, thunderous bang was heard before the carrier windows shattered from something passing them.

Looking around azreal knew exactly what just happened. "Ha! You missed!" he exclaimed in a petty, childish tone.

"Did I?" asked Noah before the communication was cut off.

"LORD AZREAL! THE _JOHN PAUL JONES!_" shouted a crewman and the blonde racist shot out of his chair, running to the shattered window to find the carrier next to his…had no bridge and was slowly sinking.

There was no wreckage, no signs of an explosion…just a clean, curved cut where the control tower had been.

"Dear lord…just what has Noah Carson made now?" asked the captain of his own vessel and he began to grind his teeth.

"God damn it Noah! Launch all daggers and fighters! I want that mass driver now! And find me Noah Carson!" shouted muruta and all hell broke loose on the ship as when the first jet began to take off it exploded on the runway.

"Sniper!" shouted another crewman as the radio-man began to announce a fleet wide launch.

The battle had finally begun and celestial being had already gotten two…no…how many had been aboard that carrier? Muruta azreal was far too unhappy to do the math as to how many were already dead or on lifeboats already with just the opening shots of the battle.

**When a good man goes to war**

**Ok…so sorry for the long, long, LONG absence. I really am. Some shit went down and for the people who have come to me about the chapter…my computer didn't die. I can't say much but suffice to say I have no clue when I will get my computer back. Anyways I've also had so much going through my head with this story in terms of where to go with it, how to do this chapter, how to break my streak of following each episode so strictly though I'm getting better at that. **

**Anyways right now I'm borrowing a laptop to write this while I save up to replace my computer instead of just waiting to get that crap piece of tech back. It was dying anyways and I want to upgrade to a top of the line gaming computer that will last mew a few years with proper care and such. **

**So finally got it done…kinda of. I`ve been reading over some other stories, reading over mine. And while I shall continue writing to continue it you may want to re-read it now and then as I may make some changes here and there a lot with fixing grammar and such. It'd mostly be adding scene or just better detail. I know I'm not the best writer in the world but after reading these other stories I feel I can do better. **

**Anyways tell me what you think. I feel like it's kind of rushed so this may go through some revisions. I could have made it longer but felt ending it with the opening shots of the battle of orb would make it easier to jump into writing the next chapter. **

**Also for those of you waiting on another chapter of "tempering a blazing soul" I will be putting that story on hiatus. I had a chapter 90% complete on my computer and I just can't bring myself to try and re-write it because of how well it was going. So till I get my rig back I will be putting that story on hold. **

**I wanted to get this chapter up ASAP because I was really starting to feel bad about not getting it done so expect the next chapter to either take a couple days or couple weeks and if it's weeks expect a revision or two of this chapter with added content.**

**Anyways as always please review and let me know your thoughts. **

**Oh and one update I will certainly make is adding why exactly that building I mentioned specifically was the first place evacuated. Let's just say I had a sweet idea and I'm hoping when I write it it will come out as I plan. **


	20. the day orb burned

**p.s. I am finishing this at work and translating it from Microsoft word to open office word. I may re-post this after I get home and fix any issues but I apologize for any/all grammar and spelling issues I may have missed. I will clean this up better at home. Just wanted you all too at least get it before the day's end.**

**The day orb burned**

Within moments after the opening shot's, both his and Valeria's, Noah watched the battle devolve into dog fights, missile barrages and ship to ship combat. He could hear planes flying overhead, clearly trying to find him instead of actually attacking anything.

Once they were gone he lined up a shot and pulled the trigger, quickly coring out a submarine which had surfaced. Whether to fire missiles or escape Cecil he didn't know. The sub didn't get the chance as it exploded.

A moment later he targeted another ship while the commando pulled back the bolt on his rifle, ejecting the large casing and loading another one into place. Once his target was picked he fired once again, smiling at the sight of the sinking earth alliance frigate.

Once the fighting began he took stock of the fleet and estimated it was nearly three times the size of the one in the anime. Every now and then he would check on the archangel, then the astrays, and then each fighter he knew, usually during recon flights.

He was especially proud when he got a chance during the third missile volley to watch Alfred boost in front of a line of rail gun tanks and open up with his full arsenal to protect them. Everything was going according to plan and according to his panel with a set of lights for each gunpla battler back home everyone was ready to jump in once the prototypes showed up.

As he observed it all his finger slipped and he found himself firing a stray round. He quickly checked his scope while he racked another round into the chamber. Luckily his scope had been aimed at the water so his round did no damage to anything which was both a relief and slightly concerning.

The main downside to that shot was the bomber squadron that had found him as his radar pinged to state he had inbound birds and they were coming right for him. In an instant he shoved the large rifle away and threw off his cloak, quickly rising to a knee as the bombers flew over him. His targeting systems picked up the bombs/ missile and he opened up with his head Vulcans and the chest mounted anti-personnel gun. He was happy to watch them all explode and decided it was time to move.

Grabbing the two smaller magazine's he put them in pouches designed specifically for them at his hip and jumped off the cliff with his gundam, quickly landing and beginning to slide down it.

Along the way he stopped at a small outcropping though his landing was quickly causing it to crack and break off. He slid his hand into a cave the outcropping lead to and pulled out a weapon he had Nicol hide while he went up to get ready to this fight.

Once it was out he pulled back the bolt on a smaller, lighter sniper rifle. He loaded one of the two magazines into it and pushed the bolt forward, chambering a round before boosting off the cliff and once more taking aim out to the bay. He only had one shot till he was into urban warfare and so he found himself targeting one of the first strike daggers to launch and fired.

As he fell his scope allowed him to watch the machine explode and with satisfaction he landed and proceeded to remove the scope from the rifles tactical rail. It was a much closer fight from here if he managed to find anyone.

**The day orb burned**

Nicol grunted as he landed back down in the forests. He was on the outskirts and as his blitz jaeger cloaked up he hoped to god everyone was ok. The fighting was already pretty thick and while his targeting wasn't as accurate as the strikes, when he could he'd boost up into the sky and try and shoot down as many missiles as he could.

"Nicol the alliance brought carrier planes. They are dropping units in behind me. Think you can head them off?" asked Valeria over the team comm channel.

"Need me to come up there and watch your back?" asked Alfred.

"No I have it. Alfred keep up with the AA support. We need as many of those rail tanks to stay alive for now." stated Nicol as he made his way to the team's sniper. As he did so he watched a pair of strike daggers land atop gun emplacements and cursed himself for not seeing them sooner.

Opening his hyper coat and uncloaking he boosted forward, beam sabers in hand as he sliced one dagger in half before spinning and shoving his other beam saber into the cockpit of the mass produced strike.

These things were easy to take down but he had to remember that the naturals were new to this sort of combat. Everyone in celestial being was a veteran fighter. He just hoped dearka joined them in that regard. He would hate to have to fight him.

For now, he recloaked and moved on to back Valeria up.

**The day orb burned**

Mu couldn't believe how this machine handled. The fused cockpit of a mobile suit and a fighter jet…it suited him perfectly as he landed amongst a group of strike daggers, raising his shield to block a couple shots before raising the enhanced variable beam rifle. With a couple pulls of the trigger the two in front of him were gone and a quick boost to the side saved him from a beam saber to the back. Attaching the rifle to a special mount on the back he spun around and brought up his two large beam cannons, firing crimson death at two more strike daggers.

The last one decided to get in close and charged him with a beam saber. As the rookie earth alliance pilot tried to push his shield aside with his beam saber mu used his free hand to grab his right beam saber as it spun in its mount and ignited, spearing the daggers cockpit without even leaving the mount.

Boosting back as it exploded he checked his power meter. No change. So many beams and so much thruster use and he was barely scratching the surface of this machine. He couldn't wait to put it through its paces against a larger force once they hit the beach.

Noticing a group of astrays that had just been saved by Kira he sighed. "Focus girls. The freedom is amazing but more are gonna be here any second." He stated before he took to the skies once more.

**The day orb burned**

Dearka ran through the forest panting. Shit. Why did he have to stop to watch the battle? Now he was right on the edge of it and was hauling ass away from the bay.

He was stopped though when he heard a mobile suit land nearby and the ground shook. He looked to the bay and saw one of orbs ships go up in flames as the archangel dodged a potentially fatal shot.

"Marilia!" he exclaimed and looked to the suit in question. It was blue and orange and looked to be an artillery type like his buster.

Wait a second! Couldn't he access that new buster by…scanning it in? Whatever that was.

Deciding he currently had a tactical advantage over the blue artillery piece as it began to move away from him he tossed the box to the ground and after a few moments he had the black box open.

Inside was a tan set of clothing like nicol's black set and a tan flight suit. Under all that though was what he was looking for. "The buster panzer…" he whispered as he pulled the model out of the box.

Could this small piece of plastic really save miriallia?

Only one way to find out.

He got up with the gunpla, the scanner and the GP-base and took a couple steps forward. Setting the scanner down he placed the buster panzer dead center. He took a step back and pressed the button Nicol said to.

He watched the scanner light up and some sort of light run up the model before its head straightened out and the eyes lit up. "Combat mode start up! Damage level set to to to…." 

He cringed when he heard it start to glitch or so he thought…till the model broke down into a small mass of green and blue particles. It then shifted back a bit to an open area and grew and grew…. till the model…was full scale.

His mouth was wide open as he watched the cockpit open and the lift activate and drop down.

Looking back, he made sure the blue mobile suit wasn't aware of his presence yet. When he was sure it wasn't he quickly went back to the crate and yelped as he tripped trying to get into the tan flight suit. A few seconds later he was zipping up the suit and grabbed the helmet.

He grabbed the uniform and stuffed it into his helmet. Riding the lift up to the cockpit he looked the new buster over and couldn't help but enjoy the thought of all the potential hidden in extra armor.

Finally, he reached the cockpit and climbed inside. As the door closed he blinked at how bare the cockpit was. But then he remembered what Nicol said and sat in the chair, setting his helmet on the floor while watching a pedestal raise in the center. He noticed where to place the GP-base and locked it into place.

That's when he saw it. The rush of orange particles. Watching each display form, the control orbs, everything. So this is what piloting a celestial being mobile suit was like? Taking a deep breath dearka took hold of the control orbs and watched his main monitor as he did what he assumed Noah did to operate the arms, rotating the orbs and bringing them up in front of his face. Just as he hoped the buster panzer brought both hands up in front of its own face and as he gripped the balls with his fingers, each one in a specific slot…the fingers balled up to form fists then uncurled as he let go.

"This is awesome…" he stated as he finally refocused on the fight around him. More specifically he watched that blue unit.

"Now what do I do to use my weapons?" he asked as he started pressing buttons till he finally brought up a menu that clearly was a list of weapons. Reading each one he was surprised with how many missile types this thing had.

Finally finding what appeared to be beam cannons he chose them and watched through his monitors as a pair of large caliber beam cannons swung forward and locked into position on his forearms. "Sweet…" was all he said before he decided to try and find one of those new machines.

Sure enough the first one he saw within firing range was the artillery unit which had just decimated a team of orb's new models. So many new machines…who the hell built them all?

His targeting system activated and within seconds he had a lock. "Yes…ok…now then what does this thing use for propulsion?" he asked as he pushed his foot down on the haptic gas pedal. Soon he found himself begin to rise steadily but his eyes went wide when he recognized the sound his new machine was making. He had a GN drive! Ohhh…. this natural was screwed!

"Hey asshole! Focus on me!" he shouted as he increased his speed and raised both arms, firing both cannons at the blue mobile suit. As he approached it he watched it dodge the large pink beams formed from the GN particles and turn back to look at him.

Quickly he brought back his weapons menu and selected a missile set called "beam repellant". He pulled the trigger as he watched the machines array of weapons begin to glow while they charged. The apparent micro missile pods in his knees opened up and launched the small missiles.

He boosted back, bringing the weapons system up again. He was already getting the hang of this machine. He watched the forearm cannons slide back slightly as he chose the selection of "buster standard" and with that his machine grabbed a pair of weapons that he was quite familiar with.

It was then he noticed the missiles that he had fired had spiraled and gone off right in front of him, leaving a dense, black cloud that also had a green sparkle too it. He also noticed he had not seen the result of the blue machines barrage. So the smoke was basically the beam equivalent to an ECM and just stopped the beams? Nice!

Elsman was going to have plenty of fun with this machine.

**The day orb burned**

Mu groaned as he dodged the mace whip of the new machine that had launched from the earth alliance forces. "damn them…what the hell have they made?" he asked as he took a couple pot shots and watched Kira fire his baleana plasma cannons at the raider only to have all the beams deflected by the scythe wielding machine.

"Damn it…hey Noah where are your friends? I thought they were gonna show up when these guys…SHIT!" he shouted over coms as he found himself face to face with the forbidden. Its scythe was raised and he thought this might be the end…

Till a machine similar to his rammed into the forbidden and proceeded to fire its own beam rifle at it.

"What the…" was all he could say. He was staring at another build strike full package. Admittedly though this one seemed different in a way.

On its right arm was a small blue shield which seemed to have a beam rifle locked into it. The hand was holding basically the same rifle as him though four of its six lights were lit up.

The left arm had a shield just like his though as the raider flew in and fired its Scylla cannon he watched part of the shield that looked to be some kind of extra armor open and absorb the beam.

"Why doesn't my shield have that kinda tech?" thought mu as he turned and fired at the pair of prototypes as well, trying to drive them away. He thought about the machine. From what he could see the wings on its backpack had some sort of red crystal area, same with the legs, they had what looked like an extra section of armor though this one had those red crystal parts on it.

Aside from those it was basically the same machine. Was this one of Noah's friends? Had to be.

"I hope we aren't too late." Stated a voice over an open channel, one he didn't recognize.

"Yes we apologize, we were so astounded watching the battle we forgot to launch on time." Said someone else, they sounded more formal and had a slight accent.

Just after that he watched what looked like a custom astray fall from the sky and try to land on the raider, a thick black piece of armor smashing into the ground instead of the prototype.

When it stood back up a second black…fist? Some large arm looking thing came swinging up off the opposite shoulder in an uppercut to the raiders face before it jumped back, drawing a pair of katana like swords from its shoulders.

From there the forbidden landed in front of it and took a swing at the samurai looking astray. Without missing a beat, the new mobile suit rolled forward, stabbing one of its swords into the ground before reaching out to grab the handle of the forbiddens scythe just below the blade and bringing the whole fight to a stop as the tip of his other katana rested on the cockpit door of the forbidden.

"Please, I do not wish to end you but I will if I must. Surrender and get out of your machine and I'll spare your life." Stated Nils over an open comm channel.

"Like hell I will! Go die in a hole your moron!" shouted Shani, the forbiddens pilot as the forbidden entered its high speed assault form, the backpack coming up to rest atop the head before Nils had to boost to the side and dodge it's rail guns.

At that moment everyone stopped when a bright flash went off and they all turned to watch a massive crimson beam of death lance out from the military base area and reach all the way to a squadron of fighters about to make a run on the archangel.

**The day orb burned**

Murrue grit her teeth as the ship was rocked by missiles exploding nearby due to being intercepted by the CIWS. She was thankful that Nina and Nicol had worked on an enhanced targeting program for the system while the ship was dry docked. If it was one thing the earth forces were known for it was their use of missiles in naval warfare.

Below the archangel were the three celestial being ships, using her for cover from the missile barrages while their artillery kept the warships at a safe distance.

Some ways away murrue watched a ship suddenly explode as a large claw came up through the center of the deck.

She watched as Cecil had the HY-GOGG climb through the wreckage and as the flames blazed on the ship while it sunk she watched that mono eye flash before swiveling along its axis to look to a pair of strike daggers about to launch. Cecil raised his right arm and let loose a barrage of blue beams, destroying the mobile suits before the ship sunk enough that the amphibious mobile suit dove into the water and disappeared.

It certainly through azreals fleet for a loop when they were being attacked on all fronts. The way each attack from Cecil seemed to throw them into disarray they clearly were not expecting an amphibious mobile suit and clearly not one of its size.

Listening to the team communication channel Noah let her in on as well as the astrays she could hear that his friends had shown up in spectacular fashion. Even more so it seemed that mu's build strike 2.0 was giving them a huge advantage as well as all the celestial being units.

Speaking of them murrue was thankful Noah brought sniping to MS combat as she watched a jet try to launch after resupplying but just as it activated its afterburner it exploded, Valeria showing that she was the correct choice for the unit with every shot.

"Captain we have fighters inbound!" shouted the radar operator.

"Target them and bring them down!" she replied as she was curious as to how they hadn't been shot down yet.

"We can't ma'am! They seem to be using electronic counter measures so we can't target them!"

"Damn it…is anyone able to intercept?" she asked. They had so many mobile suits in this fight one of them had to be close.

"No ma'am, la flaga is with Noah's friends pushing back a group of strike daggers and Kira is engaging the prototypes. They seem to have gotten orders to attack him. Noah is currently engaged in urban warfare with another team of daggers." He stated before taking a breath.

"And what about the baker team?" she asked.

"Busy intercepting E.A. missile barrages and other fighter squadrons….and of course Cecil is underwater…" he stated.

Murrue bit her lip. The fighters couldn't do too much but they could cripple some of their weapons or even their engines.

"New contact! In the harbor…. ENERGY SPIKE!" he shouted before they all watched a massive crimson beam pass the ship and spear the core of the fighter squadron, destroying them all in a chain effect.

"Get me visuals now!" she shouted. A moment later the bridge gasped.

"dearka!" shouted miriallia happily as they watched the new buster panzer, standing in the bay with its weapon in the hyper impulse rifle mode which clearly was upgraded, open multiple hatches all over its body and unleash a massive barrage of missiles, four of which, two from each leg, dove into the water and took off.

"Buster panzer to archangel. Do you copy?" asked Dearka over the team's comm channel.

"This is archangel, we read you Mr. Elman. Thank you for the assist." Stated murrue as she watched the missiles streak around and past the archangel.

Some stopped after a moment and began to just fall like mortar rounds, others turned and followed certain targets. And a pair of explosions went off underwater as she assumed the missiles/torpedoes found their marks.

"I'll cover you as best I can from here. It seems this machine was designed to be an artillery platform." Stated dearka before Noah interrupted him.

"Damn straight! Thing would give trowa and his heavyarms a run for its money! Lock down into place to get stabilized and show the earth alliance why they should have headed my warning!" shouted Noah happily and murrue giggled.

"Ok everyone focus! This battle isn't over yet!" shouted murrue and everyone went back to their duties.

**The day orb burned**

Noah sighed as the GM commando rested on a building. He had managed to find a group of strike daggers that had unique colors, likely one of the first test teams or panama survivors. They had landed behind the lines of defense and were in all honesty giving him hell.

Checking his ammo count Noah saw he was down to three rounds. How the rifle was being blocked by their shields he had no clue.

He took a deep breath and popped back around the corner, taking aim and firing a pot shot at the lead machine which had already raised its shield. These guys were good that was sure.

When the other gunpla battlers had shown up Noah was relieved…. but the meijin seemed to be nowhere to be seen.

Deciding the rifle was a lost cause Noah dropped it, bringing up his weapon menu and selecting his beam M1911's though putting them in holstered mode, meaning that his hands simply rested on the pistols.

He could hear the daggers advancing. Reaching down between his legs he opened his backpack of back up models and tried to decide which one to use as this was not going to end well for his GM commando.

Deciding on his gouf elite he put it at the top with his scanner and got ready for the eventuality he would have to ditch the GM commando.

Finally, he heard the team right around the corner and decided to try something.

Setting his arm rakes to manual he took a tight hold on them and moved his hands from the pistols. In this mode he had complete control of the model, able to draw his weapons and use them even without opening his menu.

Finally, he noticed out of the corner of his eye the barrel of a strike daggers beam rifles and reacted.

Reaching out he grabbed the barrel and shoved it down, pulling the strike around the corner with it.

The machine tried to boost away but he knocked the shield aside and grabbed the mobile suit by the shoulder, spinning it around and drawing one of his M1911 based pistols.

Putting it to the back of the mass produced machine he put three rounds into it, the metal tipped plasma rounds exiting the front of the machine. This caused its eyes to flicker and it shut down like the blitz did in space.

Once that was done he brought his arm around the neck of the mobile suit and boosted around the corner. Within seconds the mobile suit turned meat shield saved him from four beam rounds before he shoved it forward onto the next two machines.

As they fell he quickly drew his other pistol and pulled the triggers till both pistol's custom slides locked into place, the internal magazines empty while both the strike daggers on the ground before him exploded.

Their two remaining comrades moved to charge him but soon arched their backs as both machines took a flurry of green bolts to their backs and exploded.

As the smoke cleared Noah smiled when the kampfer amazing stood before him, both beam sub machine guns being lowered. "I hope I'm not late. I was trying to decide which fight to join and yours seemed to be the most dire." Stated the meijin as his machines eye flashed and he activated his hover mode and boosted over to Noah, gliding around him to watch his back as Noah reloaded his pistols.

"I have good news and I have bad news." Stated Noah as he holstered the pistols and turned to face the meijin.

"What's the good news?"

"Good news is you're here so I'm safe for the moment. Bad news is the zero system may be showing itself. That was clearly an "elite" unit. Special colors, didn't go down as easily as normal. It's small but I think I need to change mobile suits. Can you cover me while I do that?" Noah asked as he opened his cockpit.

"Sure, but be quick. My sensors are picking up another carrier flight coming this way." Stated the meijin as he began to take aim at the sky.

Noah nodded and got out of his mobile suit, riding the lift down before he began to process of switching to his gouf custom.

When the carriers flew over they were gone…almost.

When the strike daggers landed and began searching for them the two Zeon based mobile suits were nowhere to be found.

The team leader used his mobile suit to signal they were to move out and as they headed down the street a large black hand reached out around the corner of an alley, soon the black head of Noah's gouf elite following as the white mono-eye swiveled around to look at them.

The strike daggers were quick to spin around to the sound of a crash and took aim in the direction of the noise which was Noah discarding one of his gouf custom shields and drawing his heat sword off his back slowly.

As they took a step towards the alley the kampfer amazing boosted out of an alley behind them and opened up on the two daggers formerly at the front of the team.

As the machines exploded and the other three turned around Noah boosted around from his alley and the leader of the squad found…well found himself and his cockpit speared by the glowing red blade before the mobile suit floundered on the blade as bullets not only riddled it but flew through it and into another strike dagger.

When the final machine spun around to face Noah its face plate was soon covered by the hand of the kampfer amazing and an amazing dagger pierced the cockpit from behind before it was tossed aside and exploded.

This was the beauty of the gunpla battle controls. Mobile suits became an extension of the pilot and fighting like an actual person became far easier. It was how most players were able to handle using G-gundam style models.

The two friends shared a gunpla based high five and Noah went to collect his shield, with tatsuya covering him.

**The day orb burned**

As the advance continued all the fighters soon found themselves pairing up and in their element.

Nicol watched Valeria's back as she sniped and occasionally used her as bait to draw a large number in though he made sure to warn her so she had her beam scythe/staff thing ready.

Mu and sei were soon flying around, utilizing their speed and their suits power to try and clean up the skies.

Dearka and Alfred were also working with the astrays to handle the bulk of the enemy as they tried to form a beach head.

The meijin and Noah were utilizing guerilla tactics and clearing the city of the ones that would utilize the carriers to bypass everyone while one of the few solo fighters, Nils, used the forests to his advantage and did the same.

Cecil was another solo act and he was out of submarines so his focus was acting like a shark and intercepting groups in the "shallow" water.

And Kira was exactly how he was in the anime…overwhelmed but otherwise doing his best against the prototypes in the sky.

…..

One might wonder where Nina was…

Nina sat in EX-calibers cockpit, the legendary machine standing in the deeper inland dry docks where ships usually were dismantled not built. She was currently the only one protecting the crew of the _St. Helens _as they boarded the new celestial being vessel.

It was bigger than she expected but at the same time she was impressed by her daughter's handy work. Originally the woman had been worried the girl never thought of how they would board it when there was no cockpit like the simulation set up dearka and Nicol currently used.

Instead she discovered the girl had rebuilt the base model from the ground up. Going into deep detail she built everything from the hangars which included standard mobile suit berths for machines like the buster and two full model building workshops for the models that Noah had built. She built the crew quarters though for that she learned some coding from Noah and learned how to code the GP-base that acted as the keys to this ship with the specifications for the beds and such.

She even custom built the bridge to be a fusion of the original bridge but elongated to include a tactical planning area like zaft ships with a holo-table and all.

Her hands were resting on her stomach, the coordinator curious if she could produce children as brilliant as this girl. It certainly was a blessing Noah had found her or else who knew what would be happening right now.

The key to all this was the fact she had included a keypad scribed and detailed next to the main airlock door. Once the machine was "scanned in she had lead the crew to the airlock and keyed in the code, allowing access to the models interior. By the time the transport truck arrived with the repaired blitz and buster they had opened the main cargo hatch and everyone began working on loading the supplies onboard while the chosen bridge crew began watching clips from gundam 00 and familiarizing themselves with the haptic controls of the gunpla battle arena setup and what each seat did according to the clips of the real celestial being using the controls and the proper files and controls being slaved to various consoles.

So far Nina had not needed to do any sort of fighting but she was itching to go join her fiancée. She was listening to the team communications channel, waiting to be called into combat but sadly wasn't hearing her name.

Suddenly though her systems went crazy with warnings and she had to nearly dive in front of the ship to block a crimson beam similar to the one the strikes Agni cannon and her paladin had fired.

Checking to make sure everyone was ok she turned to see where the shot had come from. What she saw surprised her.

Standing on the ridge of the dry dock area was an orange and yellow version of the one Noah informed her was known as the calamity.

She quickly looked it over and saw the main differences. This calamity was designed with close quarters in mind. It retained the shield of the calamity and the overall body but the twin cannons on its shoulders were gone. In their place rested a pair of modified anti-ship swords from the sword strike.

On its right wrist was come kind of claw, she guessed it likely was a wire based grapple device.

Any other secrets it hid she'd find out later as the machine boosted up and drew one of its blades, igniting the beam portion and moving to bring it down in a heavy slash.

Nina brought up EX-calibers left shield and blocked the attack, forcing it back and away from the ship. "Please hurry and finish. I`ll lead him away!" shouted Nina over her suits speakers and sure enough the zaft defectors picked up their pace as she pressed down on her acceleration pedal and put the shield in front of her, blocking a blast from the sword calamity's shield before ramming it and pushing it into another, empty dry-dock station, crashing through the racks and cranes that would help hold the ships and tear them apart.

It looked like the snow haired coordinator would get to fight after all.

**The day orb burned**

Kira groaned as he was forced to endure the heavy G's of the freedom doing a back flip as he dodged the Scylla cannon of the raider before bringing his shield up to block the forbiddens own curved beam.

He was beginning to question his own methods. He had already read multiple times he could have finished these clearly rookie pilots if he were willing to kill.

No! These were clearly angry and very disturbed people. He would beat them without killing them and show them killing wasn't the only way!

Diving to miss a swing from the raiders breaker weapon he brought out his full arsenal and fired, only to once again have the forbidden intercept and block his rail guns while bending away his beams.

One second these guys were a team, the next...

His thought was proven valid as the two flight capable prototypes had to dodge shots from their land stricken companion.

The next they were shooting at each other.

As he watched them bicker he tried to plan his next move. Lure them towards one of the other groups and get help? Try and lure them close enough to single one out? Whether they were fighting him or each other than each used their machines strengths to save one another.

During his musing though he failed to notice the raider and forbidden focus on him again and nearly missed blocking a swing from the raider only for the mobile armor to move and the forbidden to fire its main beam weapon.

No he didn't have time to block!

In an instant he watched both a red and a green blur fly in front of him!

What he saw amazed him. In front of him, shield drawn, was a red mobile suit. It had a flight pack on its back and had more than a few features that mirrored his freedom like the beam sabers at its hips.

The justice! He remembered lacus mentioning two mobile suits of the freedoms line being completed, the freedom and the justice.

The green blur was unfamiliar to him though it ultimately sat in front of the justice and had blocked the beam.

As it lowered its shield it raised a large rifle and seemed ready to fire but as the forbidden brought up its beam bending shields the wings on its back opened and with amazing speed it boosted forward, ramming the forbidden and forcing it's shields to part before a pair of head Vulcans and two machine guns on its clavicles opened up on the earth alliance prototype.

"Looks like I'm the last to the party. My apologies, me amour needed my attention." Stated someone, presumably the pilot of this machine. He had a thick accent and Kira recognized the Spanish he spoke.

"This is zaft special forces agent athrun zala, freedom do you read me? Or should I say…Kira yamato?" asked a second voice and Kira looked to the justice.

Athrun! He was the pilot of the justice! Oh thank heaven! But…was he here to take back the freedom? Would they be enemies once more?

"I hear you athrun. It's good to see you again." Stated Kira as everyone seemed to have stopped…well kind of.

Right as Kira said that the raider transformed and began to fire its guns at him. Athrun moved in front of him to block them but before the raider could get much traction in terms of moving towards Kira the green machine transformed into a bird of some sort and rammed it, quickly changing back and firing a few small pink beams at it.

Both he and athrun seemed amazed when the large rifle the machine held split, the green mobile suit holding the two rifles at its waist like dearka did in the buster. A moment later though it held them both out, arms straight and fired at both the raider and forbidden before flying off, leading the raider away but the forbidden seemed conflicted now with its targets…. till a massive blue beam forced it to back off even more and a rather odd machine came down and swung a bone shaped weapon that glowed bright red and orange at the prototype.

"Please continue your conversation. Let us handle these two. If anything worry about the calamity!" shouted another new pilot as he chased the forbidden off towards the island.

Kira turned the freedom to face the justice as it turned around and the two units just hovered in the air.

"We have quite a bit to talk about don't we?" asked athrun as the justice stowed its rifle on its back, another similarity between the two machines and reached out in a handshake.

The freedom did the same and shook the justice's hand. "Yes…yes we do." Said Kira, tears welling up in his eyes as they both turned towards the calamity.

"I'm glad you're alive Kira…. why don't we show the earth forces what we can do together as allies rather than enemies?" asked athrun as the justice reached over its shoulder and grabbed a handle built into the shoulder like the sword strikes beam boomerang.

Kira nodded. "Yeah…I'm glad we aren't enemies." Stated Kira before the two zaft machines boosted towards the calamity together.

**The day orb burned**

Noah could see the battle was beginning to wind down. The strikes were indeed being pushed back and after giving athrun and Kira time to really get in sync Fellini and maoh bowed out of the fight, the Italian dandy feeling his machine was too powerful for this fight at this point and maoh finding his machine unusable when he couldn't utilize the satellite cannon in his chest without plavsky particles.

"Almost time…meijin perhaps it's time I switched up again?" asked Noah as his gouf turned to face the kampfer amazing.

The once mighty Zeon machine was a wreck due to Noah fighting like him planned too now that he had back up. Recklessly and without care whether the machine survived or not.

So as he discarded the now empty chain gun shield off his remaining arm and had the machine draw the heat sword from within the shield he started preparing his next machine, the kampfer elite.

Setting the gouf to kneel he utilized the lift to reach the ground and quickly swapped out the machines. Within a couple minutes the kampfer elite was standing and as the mono-eye flashed a bright white Noah had it look up, noticing a pause in the fire fight above them.

"Looks like the battles over…. head back and fix up the kampfer. I`m going to head towards the dry docks to meet up with the archangel." Stated Noah and the kampfer amazing nodded before the meijin shut down his system and the kampfer blew away with the breeze in a cloud of glowing plavsky particles.

Just as Noah began to head towards the military base he watched Nina and EX-caliber come crashing through a building, a familiar orange machine forcing her into another one before backing up and charging its chest Scylla cannon.

The charging process was interrupted as Noah fired a shotgun shell at the machine, catching its attention and causing it to turn to fire its shield cannons at him, which with the guerilla warfare based mech Noah easily dodged before firing another shot, working the pump action and firing another one. "Get away from my future wife asshole!" shouted Noah from his speakers before the CQB calamity charged him, the gunpla battler deftly dodging him and boosting back towards Nina.

He looked EX-caliber over and cringed. Missing the left arm, it was clear Nina had trouble alone with the converted artillery. The head was crushed in on the left side as well, making the originally cosmetic damaged look actually damaged. The right leg was mangled at the knee and the sword was broken in half.

Seeing an opportunity Nina disengaged the GN sword system and grabbed the GN short sword, quickly turning and firing the tip of the blade.

The sword calamity caught it on the shield but seemed surprised when the blade not only pierced the shield but started to retract, forcing it to ditch the shield or get pulled towards his foes.

Right as it turned and began to charge the cannon in its chest once more it stopped, the eyes dimming as it was clear like his companions his steroids were wearing off.

Noah decided to put the final nail in the coffin of this fight and turned and started pumping shotgun shell after shell at the former walking artillery till it finally took off and followed its team mates back home.

Noah turned back to Nina and sighed. "You ok Hun?" asked Noah as the kampfer tossed the shotgun and he noticed EX-caliber's cockpit door was dented.

"Yeah…yeah I'm fine. Sorry I didn't call for help. I thought I had him under control." she said as Noah's machine grabbed the door and tore it off, tossing it aside and opening his own.

"It's fine. How's the ship? Any injuries or damages?"

As Nina walked out of the cockpit she shook her head, walking onto the offered hand and letting it carry her to Noah.

"No I blocked the one shot it got off and then forced it away…but I'm sure they know by now where it is. Noah he wasn't with his group nor did he seem interested in anyone but me…actually…I think he was looking for you." She said as she gave her lover a quick kiss and took a spot just behind his cockpit chair as the door closed and Noah shoved EX-caliber down onto its front, grabbing the GN drive and tearing it out of the mobile suit.

With the drive gone the gundam would be defenseless armor wise and with that he grabbed one of the two chain mines attached to his legs and opened it, quickly whipping it in a zig zag pattern over the machine before grabbing its GN sword system and tossing it on top of it.

Grabbing his second whip he double coated EX-caliber and now the GN sword system in the powerful mines.

Boosting back he set them off, satisfied as the explosives did enough damage that the former model exploded.

Once the dust settled he used his camera systems to scan the debris…and that was all it was…debris. The replaced cockpit caused the former model to simply break down into a busted mobile suit…except its GN drive which disappeared in a flurry of plavsky particles.

To ensure no trace of the powerful device remained though he closed the kampfers hand into a fist, hoping to crush even any model parts inside the massive hand.

With that done the machine turned around and once more headed to the dry-dock where the archangel would be equipped with its boosters and repaired for the trip to space. Hopefully Luke finished repairs on the Gabriel while he was gone which was just simple assembly at this point.

**The day orb burned**

Azreal groaned as he heard the news of his prized toys returning. Seems he had either underestimated Noah or the unsinkable archangel's new mobile suit compliment or he overestimated his own prototypes.

Either way he sighed and stood up. "I guess it's time we take a break from the fighting." He said sadly.

"What the hell? Why would we do that?" asked the captain as he jumped up and turned to face azreal. While true half his fleet was sunk, sinking, or in terrible need of repairs and almost a 3rd of their mobile suit regime were destroyed, disabled or back in their berths being repaired….they were making progress…kind of…

"Face it captain we won't be making any progress with just the strike daggers. No while celestial being and those traitors still have their mobile suits. Recall all your forces, take a breather, make repairs, whatever you need to do…just be ready for round 2. And next round expect my toys to bring us a new one…"stated azreal as he moved to leave the bridge.

"Fine…just get your people in order! They were sloppy, uncoordinated, and even killed some of our own troops in friendly fire!" shouted the man as he started ordering the retreat.

**The day orb burned**

Kira and athrun just stared at each other through their monitors. The silence spoke volumes as they both tried to figure out what to say.

Kira decided to break the silent moment. "Thanks for the backup…I wish we knew who that other guy was." Stated Kira as he tried to find the green machine but didn't see anything.

"I am still also curious…what are you intentions?" asked the perfect coordinator as both machines relaxed visibly.

"I have orders from the homeland to capture or destroy that machine or Noah Carson's new mobile suit…" stated athrun as his cockpit opened and the chair rose up.

"But I have no intention of following those orders…" he said as the freedom visibly tensed again.

Kira glanced at his cameras, the advanced software grabbing images of everyone's position with a few clicks of a button. The body language every mobile suit gave off was that of both relief and sorrow. While they were not as severe as Kira predicted given the earth alliances new mobile suits…

The casualties were likely still high. But again they were even lower than they should have been with Noah and his people here and orb's astray units thanks to his friend's intervention.

"I have no intention of fighting you or your allies…or celestial being….I just wanna talk…"said athrun as he held up both hands in surrender. "I just wanna talk…with my best friend…"

Kira found his demeanor softening and his eyes tearing up as he smiled. "You don't have to surrender athrun…just follow me." Stated Kira as his friend lowered back into his cockpit.

The freedom then turned and boosted off towards the land. Until he knew what to do next he figured they were better off at least landing the two nuclear powered mobile suits.

**The day orb burned**

By dusk almost all the mobile suits were gathered in the military base and in various forms of shutting down or the pilots exiting them except the astray series. While the girls the archangel crew had departed their machines and were relaxing, a few of the surviving astray pilots were helping move rubble and take stock of what all they lost.

As mu rode the build strikes lift down he watched as the other build strike and that custom astray, seemed to get an order from Noah's new suit and disappeared in clouds of blue and green particles.

He looked to the new buster and watched as the cockpit finally opened and dearka got out just as the blitz jaeger walked up next to it and began to power down.

The blonde coordinator glanced to the white mobile suit and tugged on the celestial being uniform he had changed into in his cockpit.

A moment later cagalli walked through the small camp as everyone started to gather…well all the mobile suit pilots at least.

"Good job everyone. I`m not sure why they retreated…but you all did a wonderful job." She said loudly as she walked through the group, Nicol and Valeria collapsing near the astray girls, both throwing their helmets of and panting as they went from sitting on their rears to laying back. It was clear the two coordinators had worked rather hard. Not that anyone worked more or less than the rest of them.

Everyone's attention though was grabbed by the sounds of the freedom and the unknown red machines engines as the two nuclear powered machines landed.

At that point everyone jumped to their feet and ran over, stopping a few feet away as they watched Kira and athrun ride their lifts down. Even colonel kisaka was there and they all were waiting and watching to see what the two coordinators would do.

As the two began to walk towards each other a squad of orb soldiers readied their guns and while kisaka raised his arm to try and stop them Noah spoke up. "Shoot one single bullet and I'll kill you all!" a moment later the rifles were heard clattering to the ground.

Kira glanced to Noah who just smiled while he raised an eyebrow. What was it with him and threatening to kill people? He guessed it was a recurring thing with the other gundam universes.

By now even the archangel's crew had come out and joined the spectacle. It was the small island after Alaska all over the place. Dead silence…everyone waiting to see what would happen.

Finally the two pilots stopped and just stared at each other. After a few seconds though everyone heard a mechanical "birdy!" cry and looked to watch a small mechanical bird fly out from nowhere to land on Kira's shoulder.

Athruns expression softened and he smiled. "Cool robot."

Kira smiled. "Thanks. It was a gift from a good friend." Replied Kira as he glanced to his mechanical pet.

"Must be a great friend to make you something like that…."

Kira nodded.

"Kira…."

"Athrun…."

Neither one seemed to know just what to say…till a certain blonde ran at them and shouted, "oh you idiots! Just hug or something already!" she then proceeded to grab them both by the neck in her arms and pull them into a hug. The two boys originally were confused by quickly just chuckled as they saw cagalli's tear soaked eyes.

"I'm so glad your both ok…you both mean so much to me…"she said softly as she hugged them tighter.

**The day orb burned**

A few hours later the archangel was in morgenroete being repaired, along with the astrays and build strike. Erica had been somewhat saddened to hear that EX-caliber was destroyed but knew it was for the best. Even if Nina was grounded without it unless she took the strike the less GN drives in the world the better.

Nicol, Noah, Kira and athrun all were sitting or standing at the feet of the freedom, discussing everything they knew about this war.

"But that's…" athrun started but Kira interrupted him.

"I know it will be difficult…but with everything going on…with how your said your father was acting…can you really see things going any other way?" asked Kira.

Athrun thought for a moment then sighed. "No….your right. But then what about celestial being?" asked the purple haired coordinator as he thanked cagalli who handed him and Kira both cups of coffee.

Noah shook his head. "it was one thing to recruit the zaft and earth alliance deserters for various reasons but celestial being is as neutral as neutral can be. If it weren't for the fact this falls right in the lines of what happened with that country in gundam 00 I would be forced to follow what I said in space and apply it to orb or else celestial being could be accused of playing favorites. We can't side with orb and empower them to actually become a third power house in this war."

Athrun sighed once again.

"If orb sides with the earth forces not only will blue cosmos slaughter every coordinator they can but they would use morgenroete and orbs power to attack the plants likely with a full line of mass produced gat series." Stated Nicol as he leaned against the MS cage that the freedom was currently in for transport.

"And if they side with the plants then your father will just use that same power to overwhelm the earth forces and it won't matter that they are a sovereign nation or have sided with the plants all this would happen all over again." Said dearka as he decided to butt in on the conversation.

Athrun nodded. "Your right. The way my father is he'd turn orb into a staging ground for an all-out assault on the earth forces."

After a few moments of silence Nicol spoke up, "I should mention…I feel partially responsible for what happened back on that island. athrun you and Kira were already in such a heated battle and yet I'm sure you were doing everything you could to not have to kill Kira….but then I destroyed the duel and it seemed to send you into a rage…"stated Nicol but athrun stood up and put his hand on nicol's shoulder.

"I'm sorry you have felt that burden for so long. I know yzak lived…but at the time I thought the earth alliance had actually turned you or handed the blitz off to another pilot and the fact I thought yzak was dead it just….it pushed me over the edge." Stated athrun.

He then turned to Kira. "And your friend…I didn't know him and I'm sure I would have liked to since he had you for a friend but…I'm sorry for killing him."

Kira shook his head and looked to miriallia who was nearby. "While tolles death sent me just as far over the edge it isn't me you should apologize to. Miriallia was dating him…she was the most devastated out of all of us." Said Kira sadly.

Athrun turned to her and bowed his head. "I am so sorry for killing your boyfriend. So many lives have been lost…he didn't deserve to lose his life in such a way."

The brunette smiled and nodded. "Thanks…that means a lot but…I understand. This is war. While I still miss Tolle…I have come to terms with the fact he knew what he was signing up for the moment he began piloting skygraspers two." Miriallia sniffled slightly and excused herself, walking away to clearly go gather herself. Dearka though quickly followed after her.

Noah stepped forward right as Kira began to open his mouth to speak. "Listen…I do apologize but I really don't need my mood brought down by all the philosophical, deep thoughts that your about to go into if your gonna say what you did in the anime. So…my apologizes there. What it comes down to though is that this war is escalating. Both sides are wanting to end this but they both only want bloodshed because the radicals have put blinders on their soldiers so all they see is the hatred and contempt they have for the enemy. So Kira…I know there is one question I want you to ask athrun…that I wanna hear his answer too given the changes that have taken place." Stated Noah

Everyone seemed taken back by what Noah said. It was blunt but…so true. And everyone was thinking back to all the horrible things that have happened.

Noah motioned for Kira to speak and the teen sighed.

"Fine…my only question I have left for you athrun is simple…are we going to be enemies again?" asked Kira as he looked athrun in the eyes.

The pilot of the justice seemed surprised by the question but smiled. "As I said…I have no intention of actually carrying out my orders. And seeing that you are not with the earth forces nor are you giving even orb the schematics to the N-jammer cancellers…I think I know the path I want to take." He replied as he reached behind him and pulled a duffle bag out from behind the crate he was sitting on.

"I replaced my standard issue emergency bag with some clothes, money…basically I made a bug out bag because if you had joined the earth forces I was going to take the justice to celestial being, if they didn't accept me I was going to go into hiding. I figured in my father's state of mind he didn't need something like the justice and if you're with the earth forces the last thing they needed were two nuclear powered machines." Stated athrun which brought a smile to Noah and Kira's faces.

"The world doesn't need this kind of power in anyone's hands. Even I'm only piloting it to keep it out of the wrong hands. After I confronted lacus for helping you she made me think…about how I came close to killing her just because my father said so. How could I do that when she helped you escape and even better helped you take a dangerous weapon out of…well out of a mad man's hands? I figured celestial being had the right idea and were the only ones I felt I could trust with something like the justice. But now I see your captain is clearly seeing the world for what it is and if you'll have me…I'd like to work with you all." Athrun turned to murrue who had joined to small crowd watching them.

The brunette smiled and nodded, leaning into mu's comforting embrace as she had been thinking back to their long journey and how everything could have gone.

With that Kira stood up and stretched. "I should get back to my duties and keeping the freedom maintained. We never know when they will attack again." he said as he left.

Athrun looked up to Noah who was looking to the freedom and the justice. "I feel like you're about to say something I should probably listen too." Said the teen with a smile.

"I was just thinking…miriallia left earlier but in the episode dearka tries to get an idea on her thoughts after this chat and she runs off crying. He tries to explain you were the one who killed Tolle…but unlike now in the episode you never know she was dating him and apologize like you did." Said Noah, pausing as he thought of how to phrase what he was going to say.

"What exactly is your point? Should I not have apologized? Did I break something in the timeline or some other sci-fi crap?" asked athrun angrily. Noah shook his head.

"No no this is good in my opinion…but in the series gundam wing…the final three episodes are also made into a movie called endless waltz. In this episode of gundam seed miriallia talks to dearka about what Kira was trying to say…how the fact in the anime he kills Nicol…and in return you kill Tolle. And here dearka is basically asking if she wanted to kill you. Nothing good comes of that." Stated Noah.

Athruns eyes went wide. So…if Nicol hadn't joined Noah…he'd likely be dead right now.

"in gundam wing endless waltz the whole plot basically is about the fact that this little girl is brainwashed into thinking she is following her deceased fathers will by taking over the world with mobile suits after a peace treaty bans the use of them, giving the gundam pilots a reason to destroy their machines. In order to do so she captures a woman named relena peacecraft/dorlian. While the pilots are nowhere to be seen…mainly because one of them is trying to retrieve their gundams…she tries to talk some sense into the girl. And yes I'm getting to a point I'm just trying to explain why this is relevant."

After taking a breath Noah sits next to athrun and closes his eyes. "Being here…taking part in this war…it's made me realize what relena tells her applies to not only any gundam series…but really to anywhere, any dimension or universe or whatever. And what she says in response to the girl talking about history being and endless waltz, with the three beats of war, peace and revolution keeping the cycle going….relena finally responds later with the fact that violence only breeds violence. So say Kira killed Nicol. In return you kill Tolle, Kira's friend. By mariemaia's logic miriallia should be out for your blood. But now…she's more like relena and realizes both here and in the original anime that killing you would only invite someone to get revenge and kill her and the cycle continues." Said Noah before turning to athrun.

"So by not killing me…she's stopping the cycle. Just like Kira is trying to stop the cycle by not killing his enemies." Stated athrun to which Noah nodded.

"While yes…muruta azreal and Patrick zala need to die…without their rhetoric to fuel that cycle this world gets 2 whole years of peace. But the sad thing is without something like the battle zechs and treize created in the end of gundam wing humanity will do what it does best…"

Athrun gave Noah a confused look.

"Humanity will find a way to create more conflict. It's in our nature and why I don't bother trying to use non-lethal tactics. So long as humanity exists there will always be war…always be conflict…but if you want to minimize it to petty squabbles that someone like celestial being or the preventers can end you need to show humanity the truly gruesome and horrible side of war. You need to make it so the very thought of war, for any reason, makes their stomachs churn and makes them re-think their choices." Stated Noah before he stood up.

"Food for thought athrun…it just might make YOU rethink certain choice later in this war." And with that Noah left to go make sure Gabriel was ready for orbs final act.

**The day orb burned**

Finally dearka caught up with miriallia and gently grabbed her shoulder to try and stop her, instead she spun around and shoved her face in his chest. This confused the Casanova coordinator.

"Why….why did he have to be so polite? So nice…and sincere….why did Tolle have to die to such a kind person?!" she exclaimed into his chest so it was muffled as she sobbed.

Realizing what needed to be done he gently wrapped his arms around her, staying silent as she cried.

"For so long I had a feeling the athrun Kira spoke of was the pilot of the aegis. Even when flay went after you and you made those comments while they escorted you to the brig I knew you weren't tolles killer. As much as I wanted to believe if I killed you…if I took nicol's side arm maybe or…or something and killed you I'd feel better. But every time I did…every time I wished death on athrun I…"the brunette turned her head so he could hear her as she sniffled and tried to stop crying.

"I could only see tolles face. I could hear him telling me that nothing good would come of it. He'd tell me to go on with my life…find someone that treated me as well as he did…find happiness." She whispered before looking up into dearka's eyes.

Finally the blonde spoke up. "Had I known he actually was your boyfriend…had I known so many different things…I never would have made that comment. Every time you came and brought me food I wanted to apologize…but you always seemed too mad...like if I tried talking you`d only tell me to shut up or something." Said dearka as he looked into her eyes. Those god damn eyes that saw him as another human being…not some coordinator or the enemy or whatever…someone who cared about his wellbeing simply because he was human.

"when I saw that blue mobile suit harassing the archangel, hell nearly destroying it I got so angry….I mean I wanted to say it was because if they shot you down I'd feel like a failure…like it was my job and that they were stealing that glory from me. But deep down…you're the reason I put on this uniform. You're the reason I got into the buster panzer and protected orb and the archangel. Look I don't know what to make of all this but…"

"Just shut up…" whispered miriallia before she pressed her lips to dearka's.

**The day orb burned**

Azreal sighed as he stood on the bridge of the carrier. He was waiting to hear the fleet was ready to attack orb again…until then he was going to let those insignificant, vile, disgusting…things rot in pain for disobeying him and coming back empty handed. "So what's the word? How long till we can go in for round 2?"

The captain turned to him and growled. "We have received multiple requests from orb to come to the table for talks of a treaty. And with everything that just happened I think it would be in our best interest if we did so BEFORE Noah brings out his new demon." Growled the captain as he ground his teeth in rage, knowing what was coming next.

Azreal shook his head. "I think not. We are WAY past peace talks. I mean with that kind of strength behind them how can we control them? I think it's in our best interests to just make them disappear don't you?"

"If we came to the table then perhaps celestial being would back off. They have no more power than us without them and the archangel's crew backing them." He replied as he was starting to get tired of azreals stubborn nature.

Azreal just shrugged and shook his head no.

"In that case we are nearly ready. The only thing left are your people and a few minor repairs." Stated the captain.

"I'm sorry about that. It's my fault. They clearly didn't understand their orders very well but trust me…next time they will do exactly as promised." Stated the blonde brat before leaving once again.

**The day orb burned**

Noah gasped as he was shaken off the small bunk. "Only a few hours…that's all they waited…fuck the kampfer I'm bring them the pain." He mumbled as he got up and rushed out of his quarters…leaving Nina laying in the bed fast asleep. She had been exhausted after fighting the sword calamity so Noah had slipped her some knock out pills so she'd sleep through the next fight.

As he ran into the hangar he saw dearka and athrun talking. He guessed about the fact athrun was staying. He turned to look at where the kampfer was stowed and watched Cecil heading towards the HY-GOGG which was set up by a hangar door that led to a built in dock for freight shipments.

"Cecil!" he shouted and ran to him. Cecil visibly fought the urge to salute him and Noah tossed him a GP-base.

"What's this?" asked the coordinator and Noah pointed to the kampfer elite.

"Take it and keep the streets clear. I`m gonna use a new machine that goes against my rules but damn I had hoped we fucked the earth alliance up enough they would at least wait a bit longer then the anime…so I'm gonna give them a reason to back off again. "Stated Noah.

"Bringing out Gabriel sir?"

"No…I'm bringing something far worse…" the message was cryptic but Cecil nodded and headed for his new suit. He had to admit he felt honored to use one of Noah's personal models….but understood what Noah meant as by the time he got it powered up and was ready to head out he saw what Noah scanned in.

The phantom pain…well that was the designation his new system brought up. He wondered how it got that name and began to follow his commander out, knowing the fighting was already pretty heavy.

**The day orb burned**

It was only minutes into the fighting and Alfred found himself hiding behind a car, the wreck that was his mobile suit/ gunpla in his pocket.

He had been lucky. He had decided to keep an eye on the fleet…but even then he never saw it coming. The earth alliance was out for blood and he felt horrible when as he tried to protect orb's defenses he failed to see a missile barrage flying towards where one of the celestial being ships was docked, annihilating the damaged naval vessel.

He hoped their souls rested in peace…but now what was he to tell the boss? He had gotten lucky, blocking a barrage of beam rifle fire with his body to cover some rail tanks he had dove out of his cockpit just before the machine exploded and a thankful soldier caught him while another ran and grabbed the wrecked model that was the remains of his machine.

He understood that if they survived the fight they got to get upgrades….he likely would survive…but his machine was in pieces…would he still get the upgrade?

No joke he was grateful for the chance to pilot the thing…but he wanted to know what these upgraded suits could do.

It was then a group of strike daggers came around the corner and he found himself praying they didn't see him and decide to shoot at him.

Unfortunately they never got the chance as with loud engines around its feet roaring while keeping it hovering, Cecil rounded the corner in the kampfer elite and immediately raised both arms, the loud tri barreled machine guns spitting lead at an incredible rate into the strike daggers, quickly finishing the group.

The Zeon based machine noticed Alfred and stopped near him, reaching a hand down as a sign for him to get on.

As the hand was brought up Alfred expected to find Noah in the cockpit, gun ready to kill him or something for destroying the model. Instead he found Cecil's smiling face.

"Regret taking it upon yourself to be the vigilant guard while everyone else re-armed and repaired their machines?" asked Cecil as Alfred flipped him the bird.

"Fuck off. Where did you get this thing?" asked Alfred as he climbed into the cockpit.

"Boss handed me the GP-base for it, said to keep the streets clear with it because I think him and the miss were getting a bit frisky or something when the attack started because he was NOT happy with those stupid naturals." Stated Cecil as he closed his cockpit and went off to continue fighting.

Alfred just flipped him off again and was glad he was safe.

**The day orb burned**

Shinn panted as he tried to catch his breath. He and his family had been late due to various reasons getting to the evacuation boats. While the evacuation had begun well before even the first shots were fired, days even, the evacuation had been slow and methodical due to, and unknown to shinn, his family and all citizens of orb except certain military personal, a certain gunpla battlers tactics required the city to be barren by the time the earth alliance launched their attack.

Shinn's family lived outside the initial evacuation zone and had been caught off guard when the E.A. attacked while their part of orb was still just beginning to evacuate.

As they ran down the dirt road that led to the docks he took a moment to glance through the trees. What he saw was…well it was a wonder.

The beach was being heavily defended, but mostly by two particular mobile suits.

No one expected them and even the orb officials had been surprised…well except Erica Simmons, when three astoundingly powerful suits came out of seemingly nowhere and began assisting the defense.

He watched as a salmon colored mobile suit weaved almost gracefully around a group of the E.A. new strike daggers. As it came behind the rear mobile suit it raised a weapon, it was too small for shinn to make out but he quickly knew it was a gun as he saw the machines hand shoot up slightly three times and heard the faint, distant sound of a ballistic weapon firing with each one.

The machine maneuvered around the strike dagger as it fell to its knees but did not explode. From there it came around to the front of the next machine and put the gun to its head, firing once causing the head to explode before booting back then raisin it's leg to kick the machine back.

The strike dagger fell onto it's back and when it tried to get up the salmon colored machine put a bullet in each knee, causing the servo's to die and the machine to stay on the it's back to a degree.

Leaving that one alone it put the weapon away in a holster at its hip, quickly boosting back and away to dodge the remaining squad member's rifle fire as they finally caught up with the quick machine.

As they did so he saw a red and white machine which clearly held two long, curved blades, kabana's, and boosted towards the group which h now had its back to them. The machine brought both blades down through the shoulders of one strike dagger before turning and bringing its left sword up in a diagonal upward slash, cleanly cutting through the legs of another before the black armor on its left shoulder moved seemingly on its own and punched the machine as it fell, sending it flying across the beach while the machine blocked a beam saber from the last strike dagger with one of its swords.

He was pulled away from the fight as he caught his foot on a rock, shouting as he stumbled but ultimately kept running. He could see it…the docks were not too far away…that was when two machines, custom ones, one in a mobile armor form, another blue artillery looking suit on its back.

The blue suit jumped off the other and in the air fired its arsenal, destroying nearby astrays that were guarding the path.

As they exploded his family stopped and huddled together, his father shielding them as best he could. When the shockwaves settled they began running again but soon another explosion rocked the ground behind them and as they kept running his sister stumbled on a root, falling and losing her phone.

"No my phone!" shouted his sister, mayu. He looked up and saw a blue, white and black machine coming in for an attack on the blue artillery unit and looked back to his family. "Go! I`ll get her phone and catch up!" he shouted and his family moved to run as his slide down the hill to her phone…

_**The day orb burned**_

Luke panted as he ran into the hangar. It was now or never. If Noah could save Nicol…maybe he could save her…help shinn keep from becoming the hate and anger filled lap dog that he was in seed destiny.

He ran over to the repaired strike on the gang planks and climbed into the open cockpit, despite Murdoch yelling at him to stop.

Remembering the show as best he could and the controls of the cockpit pod arcade game the former gunpla battler strapped himself into the strike and took a deep breath, pressing the activation button and listening to the war machine come to life.

"Come on come on…there!" he shouted as he tried to figure out how to open a channel to the bridge…but miriallia beat him to it.

"Luke what are you doing in the strike!? You can't pilot a mobile suit even with its new OS!" she shouted at him

"Please miriallia, I need the aile striker pack and permission to launch! Lives are at stake…specific lives In fact that I think I know how to save!" he exclaimed as he shakily moved the strike into position to be put on the catapult without its MS cage.

The girl glared at him but glanced up, clearly getting orders from captain Ramius. "fine…your good to launch but captain wants you back as soon as this little mission of your is done. Equipping the aile flight pack…also patching la flaga to you to cover you with the build strike." She stated before the comm line ended.

Luke closed his eyes and took deep breaths, feeling the strike be outfitting with the pack that would be the best capable to get him to where he wanted to go…he just hoped he could find Kira in time to do so.

He opened his eyes when mu came on the comms. "All right Luke you got me for five minutes then the captain wants you back. What's the plan?" he asked as he visibly jerked to move his controls so he could dodge something.

"I need to find Kira. He should be engaging the new gat series prototypes…while I can't go too into detail there's a certain family in danger and an important character of the sequel to gundam seed whose attitude towards life depends on me saving them." He said, feeling the catapult throw the strike out of the archangel.

The moment he hit the pedal to climb he also pressed the switch to turn on his phase shift armor. He saw mu in the build strike full package 2.0 and moved towards him.

The former mobile armor pilot groaned. "Seriously getting tired of this "can't talk about the future but this is all some cartoon to us BS." Stated the man as he looked around for Kira.

Finally he found him and without telling Luke maxed out his acceleration towards the freedom.

Luke though was thankfully clever and followed suit, unlike Kira not bothering to worry about the strikes battery and using the aile pack to essentially fly.

Luke meanwhile figured out how to contact people and opened a channel with Noah who was currently playing hide and seek with the forbidden in his custom zaku warrior "phantom pain". Noah and the rest of the gunpla battlers taking part in the fight via a link from the simulation to a large gunpla battle arena in neilson labs, though Noah was actually here and in a scanned in version of the zaku warrior, were all piloting custom suits which Noah deemed a good balance between strong enough to survive but not over powering so as to make this battle ridiculously short and damage the seed plot and timeline.

He had rules for being here.

**A gunpla being used via the arena could not be gundam class, or if it was it had to be severely under armed, hence the sengoku astray.**

**One had to understand that while they were battling in the arena, custom software for this disabled plavsky particle based abilities such as the star build strikes discharge system or the sengoku astrays many abilities.**

**In the case of gundam seed or any universal century series the gunpla could not be a suit from an advanced series, such as bringing the strike freedom in to back Kira up in the freedom or bringing the NU gundam in to waste char in the original mobile suit gundam series…except Noah…but he's just having fun with the prototypes to tie them up**

**Fighters would also have to understand that that this was technically an alternate universe…they didn't need to know how it happened or how a gunpla arena could essentially act as a bridge. Saving lives was allowed as was obviously killing…but they had to understand they were essentially killing "real people" lives, in Noah's new gundam seed world, were being ended if you destroyed a mobile suit.**

**Also saving a life like he did Nicol could potentially have consequences, same with ending certain key characters early like say them all ganging up on the gat series porotypes and wiping them out.**

**The final rule was that anyone entering via arena had to follow Noah's orders, such as sei in his improved build strike full package which he rebuilt just for this was following his order to assist in air defense and meijin kawaguchi and mister neilson were following orders to defend the beach.**

Rules aside, he saw Noah on his communications screen shortly. "what's up Luke?" he asked as he once again faded out of sight, using the basic GN particle properties he gained from the spikes on his shields to float back just out of the forbidden scythes reach and make the extends machine visibly begin searching for him.

"Noah I wanna try to save shinn's family…I think I figured out how and what shot to either throw off or even outright block. Shinn blames Kira for his families death, but if I remember correctly they show the calamity firing first then Kira…I think their shots intercept each other and result in an explosion…if I ram Kira and throw his barrage off can you get between the shots and try to soften or even redirect the explosion away from them?" asked Luke

Noah nodded. "Yeah definitely…but we have to hurry, I just saw the calamity and raider go by and the calamity jumped off." He stated, remembering the opening to gundam seed destiny episode one well.

With that settled Luke watched as Kira dove towards the calamity, firing the shot that caused mayu to drop her phone before maneuvering away from return fire.

Quickly pushing his thrusters to the max without warning mu he flew right into Kira's left side as his barrage fired, throwing the entire thing off.

At the same time as the calamity fired Noah's phantom pain faded into few and soon a green GN field surrounded him as both his shields swung out to also block either shot. He had been careful as he saw shinn slide down to get his sisters phone, noticing the family huddle together as the ground shook when he settled down from hover mode.

In theory the GN field shout have absorbed the blast…but that would have been from a full GN drive. The six cones on his shield were the equivalent of a micro GN condenser/drive, only having enough juice to block one beam that was as strong as the calamity's Scylla cannon and Kira's baleana plasma cannons.

When those three, plus Kira's full barrage hit the field absorbed most of the fire but soon failed and his shields took the hit, also failed and Noah found himself diving off his cockpit hatch as the machine boosted off the ridge from him dragging the accelerator forward as he dove, moving the main blast away from shinn's family but still they were caught in it.

Noah tucked and rolled but still found himself slowly getting up, his left arm dislocated but other side he was bruised and scratched.

He looked up to watch sei's build stroke land in front of the calamity as it tried to fire again but it brought up the modified absorb shield and it opened, absorbing the almost point blank hyper powered beam.

The calamity tried to boosted back but sei beat him to the punch, keeping the shield up and boosting forward, with Kira quickly landing between them and opening up with another barrage which caused all three machine, sei and Kira tailing a fleeing and damaged calamity away from the area.

Noah looked around at the area the blast from his exploding zaku phantom did grab and saw charred ground, fires…but no sign of shinn's family…"shit…we failed…"he thought as he watched Luke land in the strike and put it on one knee, Mu, likely upset at having to babysit him, swiftly landed behind him to cover lukes machine while he got out and began to look around.

Noah didn't want to watch him realize they failed and limped away to scan in his second to last resort machine. He had one more after it but it was to be saved for the second battle and was already scanned in.

_**The day orb burned**_

Luke frantically looked around. Someone had to have survived…he ran over to look at shinn, the stunned boy not noticing him as he glanced at something and his face was wracked with grief. Luke followed his gaze and gasped. There was his sister's arm...again…

"shit…come on…please let me have done something good here besides just watch Noah and fanboy over being on the archangel.." he said quietly as he looked around.

Finally movement caught his attention in the corner of his eye, as well as a hoarse cry for help, to quite to attract shinn or the ORB officer who was dragging him practically away from the blast site.

Luke ran over and gasped. There she was…it wasn't shinn's whole family…but still the one thing that fueled his hate for Kira…

Mayu lay in a puddle of her own blood and looked up to Luke. Alive…barely…but alive…and missing an arm.

"don't worry mayu…I'm gonna get you out of here…"he stated as he scooped the bleeding girl into his arms and ran back to the strike, grunting and groaning as he climbed up the kneeling machine and back into the cockpit, resting the battered and bruised girl in his lap.

The moment the strike was reactivated and standing he turned around and boosted over mu, who quickly contacted him.

"Hey what's the big idea? Where's the fire kid? "He asked but then saw the girl in the video feed.

"I'm sorry mu, please go back to the fighting…I need to get her back to the archangel…contact them and tell them I'll need medical on standby and likely gonna be a crash landing." He said as he moved the strike in a straight shot for the archangel.

Mu nodded and cut the comms. He then opened a line to the archangel's bridge. "Luke says I'm done babysitting, but to tell you he's gonna need emergency medical teams in the hangar and likely is coming in for a crash landing…"he said as he flew the build strike 2.0 back into the fray.

Miriallia nodded and cut the coms as well, relaying mu's message to the necessary people.

Shortly after the strike came in hot, wobbly and just as it reached the catapult ditched it's aile striker pack into the water before turning grey from a dead battery and coasting into the hangar doors, turning around so that as it hit the crash landing net he was able to grab mayu and keep her from flying around in the cockpit.

The moment the strike stabilize and medical crews ran towards it he brought the strike into a crouch and brought mayu out, jumping the short distance from the cockpit hatch to the metal floor, with a grunt, holding her carefully till they got her on a gurney…

_**The day orb burned**_

Shinn couldn't believe it as he turned around and saw the blast results from the black mobile suits explosion. He took a step towards it and looked around. "Mother…father…mayu…"he whispered. Finally he glanced down and saw mayu's arm…"mayu!" he shouted and ran over, despite the orb officers protests….only to find it was just her arm.

Looking back up at the hill he couldn't see any sign of his sister…his mother or father…

Just as shinn fell to his knees a mobile suit flew over and another explosion caused a massive gust of wind.

"Come on kid…we need to go now!" exclaimed the guard, as he force shinn to stand and nearly dragged him into a run back to the docks.

Shinn couldn't believe it…all because of that stupid mobile suit exploding…all this fighting…and him going to get his sisters phone…he was now the only member of his family.

Shinn Asuka…was alone in the world…or so he thought.

On the archangel the doctor and newly staffed orb nurses were helping mayu fight for her life, Luke watching from the doorway, praying she'd live.

Like padme with Anakin in star wars…he knew if she saw what shinn became…in time…she'd likely hate it, and with revealing she was alive…unlike padme…and her talking some sense into him maybe…just maybe he could be like Noah with Nicol and redeem shinn.

**The day orb burned**

It was not Calvin's day. He had survived the first battle. Yes…and he had survived this frantic assault the E.A. dogs had thrown at them…so far. But first he didn't get to eat breakfast, then he nearly soaked his flight suit in a protein shake he tried to down as he was launching…nutrition was everything to him…well it was how he was raised. Plus….he only got a few hours to sleep between fights.

And now…his captain was dead. Great.

The astray pilot used a busted building as cover but the overwhelming amount of strike daggers charging the beach was still making it difficult. He grit his teeth as he blocked a shot with his shield but he saw one coming right for him.

"No time to block or dodge…I'm sorry mom…I should have gone into teaching like you said…" he whispered…till the fatal shot never hit and the ground shook as another machine landed in front of him.

Opening his eyes he saw them. Wings. Green and white with yellow vents and a red bottom. Fanned out from the machines landing.

"What are you…."he pondered as he watched it raise its right arm, likely its gun arm.

A moment later though the machine became black as it was shadowed by a huge golden beam that fired in front of it.

After the beam dissipated it turned around to look at him before it crouched and jumped, flying off to save someone else.

"Thanks…"he said meekly before he grabbed his controls. He couldn't let this second chance be wasted…time to fight!

A moment later his world went dark as his machine exploded from a shot from the calamity….

**The day orb burned**

Dearka groaned as he ran through the military bases wreckage. They had launched everything they had! Those damn naturals. Taking a moment he glanced at athrun and Kira's fight with the prototypes. It was clear they were based on the gat series and he wanted to go out and join them…but as his now customized OS set off the proximity alarm he looked to the archangel, seeing a missile barrage aimed at them.

Turning towards them he manually used the controls to use the busters guns and form the hyper impulse rifle, the now Agni-cannon like shot lancing out to obliterate the missiles in a chain reaction.

Splitting the weapons he suddenly found himself under the first of multiple strike dagger squads.

"God damn naturals! Why do you have to keep fighting!?" he shouted as he turned and brought up the new program he found in the OS. It was a targeting system like Kira's in the freedom. Except it brought up a display that zoomed in on each hostile with an individual screen, each enemy making them smaller. Then with retinal scanning and just a look and blink system he could target the whole machine or individual parts.

In this case he targeted cockpits….

A moment later he pulled the trigger and the buster panzer's leg supports folded down before every missile port opened and every little gun he had on this thing took aim.

In a hail of beams, bullets and missiles he quickly cleared a courtyard of at least 15 strike daggers.

As everything closed up he noticed a warning pop up stating he was low on ammo.

"Damn…didn't realize the missiles actually needed re-armed…"he grumbled before he ran off once more to continue fighting with what weapons he could.

**The day orb burned**

Noah sighed as he watched the remainder of the strike daggers retreat. The end was near….and as he sat in his "reaper gundam" a custom crossbone gundam with moah's skull in the torso idea included. The idea had been his GM commando or whatever model he had left would be bait to draw plenty of strike daggers into the line of fire. Then he'd unleash one satellite cannon blast out of the machine and as the smoke cleared and the fires that would come of it blazed the pilots would look inside and see the bright red eyes of the skull…hopefully…before he launched out and tore into them till the machine was going to die.

Then he'd ditch and get into the Gabriel.

Now he was climbing out of his model and de-scanning it. Once he collected the machine he walked out of the cored out building and collected his GM commando.

He watched as the daggers returned to their ships. There was no need for an all-out attack after this. So Noah saw a bar nearby and sighed. A couple shots wouldn't be horrible right?

He pulled his now completed Gabriel gundam out and walked into the bar, setting it on the counter and heading around to grab his favorite brand of whiskey and got a glass.

"I feel like I need to make a toast….good luck to pissing the most racist fuck ever off? Naw that won't work. Naww…who cares. To me fucking that fuck up on the dominion!" shouted Noah before he took a sip of his drink and looked to his machine.

"Time to make the world burn." He whispered as he downed the rest of the glass, threw it away and grabbed his model, rushing outside with a rather angry determination.

**The day orb burned**

As Kira flew alongside athrun in the freedom he could only wonder what this small skirmish was accomplishing. Was azreal this determined to see the world burn?

Did his hatred for…well his kind really extend to the point he would waste the energy to deploy four prototypes…knowing they would not complete their objective?

Or was he counting on the fact the only other pilot not currently stowing their mobile suit was Noah…who was currently MIA.

No how could he know? With his arrogance he likely expected them to throw everything at the gundams to stave them off.

He likely expected Noah to join the fight and lose.

He expected him to lose.

He expected to win.

With that thought Kira gripped his control tighter and boosted forward, his shield blocking the raiders mace before he fired off a few pot shots.

Within moments the intense dog fight began just as last time as the four machines tried to slow the two nuclear powered ones down by hitting them with everything they had.

Until a brilliant crimson beam consumed the calamity's right side, taking its arm, bazooka, shoulder cannon and leg all in one blow.

"Kira, athrun get back. I can handle this. "Said Noah over the comms and the perfect coordinator turned to see the Gabriel gundam coming at them, stowing its GN buster sword two before actually shoving Kira out of the way and then boosting at the prototypes.

Within second the fight went from him and athrun and the four machines to Noah and the three machines while the calamity plummeted from the sky.

Kira thought back to call and realized something. Noah's eyes.

They had been glowing!

Just what had Noah become?

**The day orb burned**

Noah brought his buster swords around to block a blast from the sword calamity's chest cannons before Shani tried to cut him open with his scythe, only to have it blocked by Noah's GN sword rifle. As Noah blocked that he shoved it back before switching modes, the rifle opening to form the scissors mode.

From there he caught the next swing on the handle with the scissors, the weapon cutting the blade from the handle with ease. The gunpla fighter had no idea just how well he was doing. He was acting on instinct as he stowed his second GN sword rifle, caught the scythes blade before stowing the other one, dodging a swing from the sword calamity and bringing the scythes blade down to cut one of the anti-ship swords in half then kicked the machine back.

His GN sword bits formed a shield to block a barrage from the raider before it tried to charge him. Instead he spun and dodged the mobile armor, bringing one of the sword rifles back out and opening up on the raider's rear.

The flurry of red death caught one of its bird like claws and the appendage exploded, causing the raider to have to start heading back.

Two down.

Next up was Shani as he tried to ram Noah but as he blinked his glowing eyes he deftly rose above the charge before boosting at the forbidden which quickly spun and raised its shields, expecting the flurry of crimson death.

Instead the green suit found Noah once more weaponless as the Gabriel grabbed his shields and pried them open.

With a tight hold on the devices Noah kicked the forbidden multiple times, trying to kick him back till finally the Gabriel's strength tore the shields off. With them gone Shani tried to fly away but Noah brought a GN buster sword two out and quickly aimed and fired a thing red beam, spearing the forbiddens backpack, causing it to explode before the gundam fell out of the sky as well.

His enhanced senses screaming at him Noah turned around and found an anti-ship sword inches from his cockpit door….

**The day orb burned**

Nina was watching the fight from hers and Noah's quarters as the archangel took off. With every harsh move and piece he tore and cut off the machines, with how brutal he was being Nina wondered if this was still her lover flying or one of his friends?

She gasped though as when he turned to handle the sword calamity she screamed at the screen for him to watch out as like a horror flick she watched Noah's gundam get run through by the orange calamity.

Tears instantly welled up in her eyes and she screamed, "NO! NOAH!" hell everyone on the ship was….till they watched the Gabriel break apart into a mass of red particles and disappear.

Not an explosion like when EX-caliber was destroyed…no just as everyone wondered if Noah was done…again…the sword calamity was suddenly kicked down towards the ocean as Noah's Gabriel gundam reformed behind it.

The mystical machine moved to follow but it seemed his kick was strong enough to knock out its propulsion system as it didn't try to get back up.

By then the boosters had kicked in and the archangel began its trip up into space.

Noah hovered in the air and was panting, sweating like mad as his eyes dimmed till they were the cobalt blue once more.

He watched as the kusinagi took off and then was followed by the _purgatory_. The ship was only using a mass driver due to the bridge crews lack of knowledge of GN drives and the fact the ship only had one inside to activate trans-am so it wouldn't be as effective.

Looking down Noah wondered what would come of the prototypes. He barely remembered the thrashing he gave them. But as he looked up to see the three ships making their way into space he decided he best do so as well.

While yes he could break atmosphere by using trans-am…that fight…whatever happened to him had taken all his energy so he activated his quantum leap system and flew into the portal. In a few seconds it'd re-open near the ships and he'd get a small break to rest.

Yes…rest….like Nina would let him rest after all that…

As Noah disappeared into his portal he didn't get to see the kaguya mass driver and island go up in flames. While he may have said he was going to destroy the mass driver he ended up allowing uzumi to follow through with his suicide plan.

Orb was gone….and the war was devolving into a hunt for power. What would both camps do with the knowledge of what Noah just did?

**The day orb burned**

**Ok so I decided to just have the whole war for orb in one go mostly cause I was wired on caffeine and as I re-watched the episodes to get a feel for how things went I kept thinking where I was ending it was not a good spot.**

**Plus I found a few good spots to add in some humor so hope you appreciated that. Also some of you may not appreciate Noah being so open about the other gundam universes. In my opinion the similarities between each series and conflict gives him a very much outside perspective on the war besides the fact all this is an anime to him. If I were him I'd be sharing that so the others can understand how other Meta verses time lines went and see those same similarities and differences.**

**Anyways I hope you enjoyed it.**


	21. the three ships become four

**Ok so for those of you reading the updated version of this chapter. I had problems with yesterday uploading the files. In the process of changing them so they would work I accidentally over-wrote the correct version of this chapter with an older one. So after the part with yzak this is all completely re-written and hopefully better than before. **

**Please enjoy**

The three becomes four

Nicol and Dearka were both floating on either side of the _purgatory _as the three ships settled back into space. Nicol personally was watching the kusinagi while it was constructed. The fact the ship had launched in a compartmentalized form astounded him. This was partially why he was proud to be a part of celestial being. He got to meet and see such amazing people and the creative designs they made.

As the last parts of the ship connected he glanced to a monitor showing his new home. While there were transfers that needed to be done in terms of mobile suits and equipment for said machines as well as personnel he was curious as to where all everyone would go.

He had heard about dearka's now budding romance with miriallia and was wondering if he'd want to stay aboard the archangel. He had no qualms with it and was sure Noah wouldn't either but at the same time he hoped Dearka would remember who he joined during the battle of orb and help defend the _purgatory. _

Speaking of the GN drive powered ship the new crew were still familiarizing themselves with the controls of the ship.

To that point he was amazed at Alice's handiwork. Not only was she a natural but she was just a teenager and yet she had built the vessel to such great detail he knew the ship likely was considered "world series class" in their world.

He heard the fact the kusinagi was finished docking and maneuvered to the now opening hangar doors of "launch bay one" onboard the celestial being ship. Glancing to see where Dearka was going it was no surprise that the blonde coordinator was heading for the archangel.

Deciding to leave it be he landed the blitz jaeger and began to walk it into the ship.

The hangar was amazing for the fact it had once been a model. Stopping the gundam in the center he powered it down and opened the cockpit, stepping out and looking at the empty mobile suit bays. So the baker team had de-scanned their mobile suits? Well two of them. He had heard about Alfred's heroic sacrifice of the "zaku arsenal" and was just glad the English coordinator had survived.

The only mobile suit in the whole hangar aside from his currently was the buster. He smiled, seeing the grey colored prototype stowed away gave him a sense of accomplishment. With Heliopolis seemingly like it was so long ago it helped put his mind at ease that the war was nearing its end.

Nicol saw one of the _St. Helens _technicians float over and wave to him with a scanner in his hand. Just how many of those had Noah made?

The green haired teen took off his helmet and floated down to the technician, curious as to why he had a scanner. "What are you doing with that?" asked Nicol as he saw the technician set the device under the blitz jaeger and began the shrinking process.

"Mrs. Alice stated that Noah made a few spare GP-bases and scanners for us technicians. While ultimately it is the meisters responsibilities to maintain your machines, in combat operations Alice was told to have us have scanners so that you and the other pilots can go grab a bite to eat, treat any injuries, do whatever while we make rapid repairs and maintenance. Basically our jobs will be to apply quick coats of paint, attach spare parts, re-charge/re-arm, anything that needs doing and can be done quickly to maintain the mobile suits performance." stated the man as he picked up the blitz jaeger and handed it to Nicol.

"Thank you. It's good to know that clearly Noah wanted to ensure no one would be without a job." Said Nicol as he pushed off the floor and headed for the ready room, somewhat glad to be back in space. He thought about what all his machine would need to keep it maintained. Aside from the occasional replaced weapon or maybe an arm or leg he could only think of new coats of paint or re-applied decals…cosmetics basically.

With that in mind he reached his locker in the ready room that Alice included and began to get out of his flight suit. In a half hour or captain kisaka, captain Ramius and mu would all be joining him and captain Rozene on the bridge of the ship to discuss their next move.

Noah was MIA and he was not looking forward to when Nina transferred to the ship. He had seen what happened with the sword calamity and like everyone likely was was confused as to how Noah seemed to take the strike to his cockpit which should have killed him or sent him home…but instead seemed to break down into GN particles and reform behind the customized prototype.

By the time the fight was over all three ships had broken the atmosphere so no one knew what happened to Noah. Either way this ship was to be the meeting place for strategizing while all three ships got everything straightened out.

He headed for the mess hall or whatever this ship had for an eating area in order to grab a snack before the meeting. Even just floating in space he found piloting the new machine of his very hunger inducing.

_THE THREE BECAME FOUR_

Nicol was surprised as he saw Kira, athrun and cagalli joining captain kisaka for this debriefing. While it was not unwelcome he just had not expected so many people. Either way he brought up a holographic map of the area of space they occupied.

It was the L4 sector and he was already formulating a plan.

"So…pros and cons list anyone?" asked mu before murrue punched his arm.

"Pros and cons list of what?" asked captain Rozene as she looked to a tablet Alice had given her and multi-tasked, focusing on the meeting and reading the bio of the actual leader of this vessel and its crew.

"Our situation. I mean before we can even plan what to do next we have to take stock right? Why not a pros and cons list?"

"Because half of what would be on one list belongs on both." Stated athrun.

"Like?"

"Like the fact Noah is MIA?" said cagalli as she floated around the exotic bridge.

"That's a con. No good can come of that because whether he is dead or back in his world or whatever he isn't here to help if we get attacked." Stated captain Rozene.

"Ok what about our supply situation?" asked Kira.

"The kusinagi and archangel are full on supplies and won't run out anytime soon. But there are some supplies such as water that we will go through quickly." Stated kisaka as he looked at the map.

"The purgatory is in the same state. Thanks to Nina leading the sword calamity away from us we were able to load everything onboard. But we are also a fully crewed ship as is the kusinagi. My guess is we start running low before the archangel simply due to that." stated captain Rozene as she looked up and let her tablet drift away.

Kisaka and murrue nodded.

"That's true. while the archangel did receive some crew members from orb forces Noah saved in the first battle they are still not at full force while the kusinagi obviously has a full crew and your ship does not need as many people so I'm sure you are at more than full capacity." Said kisaka as Alice floated up to the table.

"Actually the _purgatory _has just the right amount in terms of crew members. Due to celestial beings original secrecy they obviously only brought in the dedicated and the best and brightest humanity had to offer. So originally compared to this ship now the ship had less than a skeleton crew. I actually added features to the ship to counter the fact a lot of maintenance and other duties were handled by celestial beings advanced AI computer VEDA and a squadron of haro bots in special little carrier things." She stated which caught everyone's attention.

"Just how many people are actually needed to crew this ship Alice?" asked murrue as she floated closer to the girl which seemed to startle her.

"Um…if memory serves about…um…I'm not sure. They technically weren't fully staffed either for the ptolamaios kai: but they were only missing a few people to man the guns and that wasn't bad since the ship rarely needed someone to man them. But I think there was maybe 5 people to fully man the bridge, 2 of which were pilots/co-pilots for when they weren't in combat to run shifts and one of them was miss sumeragi, the technical captain of the ship though her actual title was tactical forecaster." Said Alice, taking in a breath as her nervousness clearly had her over explaining.

"Then you had Ian Vashti who was the engineer/designer of the gundams and he used haro's for repairs since the gundams rarely needed more than simple maintenance. And lastly there was the four gundam meisters….and then you had the civilian um…forgot his name that piloted the 0 raiser…a-a-and then you had soma Perez aka Marie parfacy who piloted the GN archer, a support unit for the arios…um…"the girl had now resorted to thinking on her fingers till athrun floated over and tapped her shoulder.

"Alice…you're not Noah. We know you probably don't think like him or know as much as he does. I think Miss Ramius just wants a general number." Stated athrun and the girls face went red…and she fainted.

Athrun looked to everyone and his hands shot up as he floated back, worried they might have thought he did something.

"So if I heard that right it`d take 4 people minimum if you add in the robots to run this boat plus however many pilots. We don't have shift cycles sorted just yet…we could spare a man or two for you captain Ramius." Stated captain Rozene but murrue just waved her hands and chuckled.

"No no please. Your people are with celestial being, they should be adjusting to life on this ship not the archangel. Besides I won't ignore the fact no one may be part of blue cosmos or anything but I doubt zaft navy uniforms will lessen how tense things already will be when we enter combat. They may have adjusted to Nicol but he also wore a modified E.A. uniform with a zaft patch sewed onto it. I mean no offense of course."

Rozene nodded and smiled. "I understand. It likely would be the same if our situations were reversed." Said the former zaft captain. She smirked. "I think my main issue will be re-adjusting to working in space…all of us on this ship actually. My whole crew are sailors of the naval variety, at least 2 years on that carrier each aside from our pilots. Valeria and Alfred both only had a couple months under their belt. "She was currently just staring at her tablet she had forgotten would float away if she just set it aside and had not been there when she reached for it.

Murrue giggled. "Trust me I know the feeling. It was the reverse when we were in Africa. Ensign Neumann nearly dropped a water bottle on my feet when he held it up in the air and let go expecting it to hang there when he made sure he wouldn't put any inertia into it."

After a few minutes of thinking mu sighed. "So anyone have any idea where Noah is anyways? I mean he is alive right?"

Alice nodded as she came to. "As soon as we settled in space I used my personal GP-base to contact the others on the other side and they said his cockpit is still set in "limbo" basically it's still in use."

Where was Noah? If he quantum lept here he'd be here by now and if he used trans-am he should be coming up on their radar by now.

Did the E.A. ambush him somehow and get him? Did that quantization take so much out of him he passed out?

That…was closer than anyone would know.

Break

Noah groaned as he came too. Alarms blaring, lights flashing…what the hell happened?

As his eyes opened he saw something that nearly had him pissing his flight suit….

Zafts home defense fleet had him surrounded. The jacin duea defense line had him dead to rights!

And he had inbound communication requests…oh…

"Yes?" he asked sarcastically as he opened the latest one up to see a familiar face…well familiar to him.

Talia Gladys stared back at him and sent him a glare at his response.

"This is Talia Gladys, captain of the zaft Nazca class frigate _Voltaire. _Seems I have the honor of being the one to ask you to power down your machine and surrender or we will have no choice but to open fire on you." She threatened though her face told Noah she had seen footage of him and Luke when they first returned to the cosmic era.

"Talia…can I call you Talia? Look. You`ve clearly seen what me and my friend can do to a zaft battle group…what do you think I can do when I unleash my full arsenal on an entire fleet?" asked Noah which caused the blonde to raise her eyebrow.

"I don't follow. There is a significant difference to that combat situation and this, starting with your friend's presence. What makes you think you alone can do a lot more damage to us now then you two did to that fleet?" she asked.

"I don't know I just wondered if you`d actually respond…bye." Stated Noah before he cut the communication and flexed his hands over the control balls of the Gabriel. "Boring conversation anyways." He mumbled with a smile before his cockpit screamed at him about all the beams, bullets and missiles he saw coming his way.

A few clicks and flicks of his wrists and his quantum GN drive dumped everything it had into a GN field while he swapped out his GN sword rifles for his buster sword 2's.

As everything impacted the field his readout told him it was about to fail but when it started to rise in strength he knew he had at least survived that. He was not ready to try quantifying again just yet. Though the fact he did that…holy shit he was an innovator!

As the cloud from all the missiles began to fade and everyone reloaded, let their barrels cool, whatever he flicked his wrist and brought up his trans-am program. Activating it he swiftly dove down and flew through at least three squads of mixed mobile suits, a string of explosions following him before he began spinning and twisting, lances of red sniper fire shooting from his swords as he climbed, dove, jinked, spun, every evasive maneuver imaginable in order to avoid getting bogged down in CQB.

Unfortunately a pair of heavy weapon GINN's jinxed this as he cut them in half…and their missiles.

Boosting back he found one of his GN swords grabbed by a GuAIZ which forced him to turn around and try to run his cockpit through with its beam claws on its shield. Instead Noah released one of his swords and ignited one of his wrist GN beam Vulcans/sabers and jammed it into the machines torso, angling it so he knew the tip at least found the cockpit before de-activating it and pushing the suddenly limp machine back, hoping he both did and did not do the horrible thing of killing the pilot without destroying the machine. He did not envy whoever retrieved that floating casket.

He turned to grab his sword and found himself blocking the same blade which had been grabbed by a CGUE.

The command suit brought it's chain gun shield up and started to open up on Noah but he boosted up, to the left and rammed the zaft machine with his right shoulder/ GN buster sword, forcing the pilot to drop the sword before grabbing it and bringing the massive clear red blade down to bisect the command unit before boosting away.

"Shit…gotta do something quick or else I'm gonna get trapped here. But what to do what to do…"stated Noah before he came up with an absolutely insane plan.

Reaching down to check his bag he still had with his half damaged models in it he decided they were in good enough shape for this.

As he continued to evade the enemy, occasionally firing at one or slicing them in half he looked for someplace to lay his trap. After a few moments he found it, one lone rock that would obviously help with the MS combat portion of their defense line.

Utilizing his advanced mobile suit he made sure the enemy ships on the other side wouldn't see him in time as he dove under it, running along the surface before Noah opened the cockpit, thankful he had his flight suits on and slammed the gundam back against the rock, using the fingers and feet to stop him after storing his weapons.

Before his pursuers could follow him or the enemy could get a visual on him he activated the GN drive powered standard cloaking and watched as a pair of GuAIZ flew past him followed by a CGUE.

Taking a deep breath he grabbed his bag and pushed himself out of his cockpit, using the cracks between his gundams armor to carefully climb down to the rock behind it.

Utilizing a remote command program on his GP-base to close the cockpit, he waited for a GINN to fly close and pinged it for communication. Linking it to his helmet he took a deep breath.

"Stop where you are NOW!" he shouted, the pilot stopping literally in front of the gundam. "Good…now…drop your weapon." Stated Noah, by now thanks to the propaganda both sides broadcast about him earlier in the war everyone knew his voice.

"Have you informed anyone I'm speaking to you?" asked Noah

"n-no…please don't kill me. I have a family on junius 2…"said a younger male voice, probably in his early 20's like Noah.

"Good then you`ll do what I say and toss your weapon." Stated Noah as he watched the ginn throw its gun off to the side.

"Good…now I want you to turn around 180 degrees. Anyone picks up on this I'll kill you on the spot." Threatened Noah as the GINN fired its thrusters, slowly spinning till the pilot could make out the gundams shillouete but didn't move, not realizing Noah wasn't inside.

"Good….your flight suit pressurized?" asked Noah.

"Yeah…w-what are you gonna make me do?" the young man sounded terrified.

"Open your cockpit…"

The pilot did as he asked and Noah took advantage of the fact the cockpit wasn't facing him to push off and catch the platform the door made. He caught the pilot by surprise as he climbed up to look him face to face.

As he fumbled for his sidearm Noah had the one Nicol gave him long ago now out and aimed at him. The blonde natural smirked. "Your taking me to aprilius one." Stated Noah as he got into the ginn's cockpit, grunting as he climbed behind the pilot's seat.

"w-what!? H-HOW?" screamed the man as Noah sighed.

"Here's how it's gonna go. I have remote control of my gundam. Your gonna sit here like a good boy while I use my gundam to slice off your left arm and right leg. Your gonna say you don't know what came over you but suddenly you became an ace pilot…"stated Noah, finally noticing the boy was a green novice supposedly. His attitude screamed this was just a job to earn for his family. He had no reason to die.

"Anyways I'm then going to have it drop one of my weapons before I retrieve it…don't ask how. Anyways your gonna take that sword and fly back towards the fleet. If my assumptions of the higher ups are right, this close to home they will fly you straight back to a dock if not have you head straight there. You make sure I'm not found all this will go according to plan and you may even come out a hero…and alive. I`m assuming you can figure out what will happen if it doesn't right?" asked Noah to which he got a swift nod.

"Good…I may do a bit more then cut a few limbs…"stated Noah as he brought out his GP base and the pilot watched the gundam de-cloak. Oh the look on his face as the massive GN buster blade was brought up and back down to sever his left arm before swinging around and brought through the right leg in a back handed slash.

From there the pilot screamed as the Gabriel's fist swung out and bashed against the head a couple times before the groan of metal being strained could be heard and suddenly his main camera went on the fritz, giving a broken picture as Noah was extra careful to tear open the head and CRACK the camera lens, not bust it completely.

"Ok…take the weapon…"said Noah as he saw the pilot, curled up in his seat, uncurl and see the GN buster sword two floating in front of his machine.

Noah separated it from the list of what his scanner would pick up and initiated the program as inertia had pushed the ginn back. So with a boost of GN particles plus the scanner "de-scanning it" the machine turned into a glowing cloud of plavsky particles and not only flew into the cockpit but into Noah's waiting hand.

He put it in his bag and tapped the pilot on his shoulder. "Ok…close your cockpit and go. We don't have time to waste." Stated Noah and the pilot nodded feverishly, clearly not wanting to anger Noah.

With that Noah watched the cockpit doors close and checked the main monitor and listened to the pilot's comms. If this worked…he was gonna join the military cause either his eyes were glowing and he was in innovator mode or he was a god damn genius.

_THE_ _THREE BECAME FOUR_

Dacosta panted as he reached the back entrance to where lacus clyne was hiding. The door opened and as he nearly dove in two men checked to ensure that the coast was clear before closing the door.

By the time lacus stood and greeted the young man he had caught his breath. Boy did he have some news for her!

"Thank you for all you're doing. What is the word on the street?" asked lacus, everyone stopping what they were doing and paying attention to dacosta.

"It's not looking very good. After azalea joules speech a lot of people are upset with you or at the least are not sure what to think. And to make matters worse they are claiming celestial being has infiltrated the plants and killed master seigal under false information that he was still chairman." Stated dacosta which made everyone gasp…well everyone but lacus who sighed.

Without even a tear in her eye she looked to the tan coordinator and nodded. "Then my father either is dead or will be soon. But my question is why blame celestial being? Ever since they showed up in the war zala has stated the plants would be impervious to their potential infiltrations."

"That is the one bit of good news I had. I overheard a phone call a red ace got while I was gathering Intel at a dinner. He rushed out after hearing about an attack on the homelands defenses. Apparently Gabriel showed up out of some kind of portal made up of those particles and just hung there in space till Noah finally answered one of the many captains who tried to speak with him and make sure this wasn't a trap." To this news lacus actually giggled.

"They actually thought they could speak with him? If I learned one thing during my encounter with him on the legged ship it is that he does not go back on his word. He stated zaft was an enemy of celestial being. They should have disabled him when they had the chance." Giggled the pink princess, her haro bouncing while shouting the word disable.

Dacosta smiled at her laughter. "But it gets even better. I checked Andrews intelligence sources and found out the Gabriel disappeared during the engagement though a GINN pilot claimed to have had a freak moment of immense skill and managed to steal his weapon."

"That's not possible! Even the CGUE's have proven to be ineffective against Noah, how could a GINN have done any better?" asked one of lacus' supporters.

"That's just it. Apparently he hid on an asteroid and ambushed a GINN pilot, 19, fresh out of the academy with a new family being started in the junius colonies. He only joined zaft to help save up some money for the baby."

"While I am still waiting for the even better news what happened to the pilot?" asked lacus.

"That's the downside to this news. When his GINN came directly into the docks here on aprilius one to hand deliver the weapon before Noah could get it back he shot and killed the technicians who came to help the pilot out and somehow got his weapon back because it was missing when the MP's got there. The um…the pilot had an "accident" that resulted in a hole between his eyes while they debriefed him on his encounter." Stated dacosta sadly.

"You mean zala had he killed!? Just for letting Noah inside at gun point? The kid killed two men and let him live! That's valuable intel to someone like zala!" shouted another man.

"yes but after Nina yong stole EX-caliber I guess anyone who encounters Noah either kills him or doesn't come back alive…even if their mobile suit makes it back somehow."

"Damn him! He's so desperate to get rid of Noah he will just kill anyone who doesn't kill him?"

Dacosta nodded. "Guess so. Point is though…Noah is in aprilius one and needs help!" he exclaimed happily which had everyone jump to their feet and look to lacus. This was a game changer in terms of getting her out of here safely.

"Then I guess it is time we leave. I wish to make one more broadcast at our next location while you try and find Noah. We CAN NOT leave till we find him. If we do zala will find him and kill him, I'm sure of it." Commanded lacus as everyone scrambled into action.

"If Noah doesn't kill him first. Seems like a nice guy but quick to pull the trigger before he even bothers to try and negotiate his way out. You sure we are safe with him?" asked dacosta as he helped the princess pack.

She nodded and smiled. "Yes. If Noah is here I know I will see Mr. Yamato again. Mr. Carson will make sure we get out of here safely." And with that everyone just focused on packing up.

Break

Athrun could only feel pity and sorrow instead of the rage and hatred he wanted to feel for his father as he walked up to him. Due to having piloted a shuttle from the archangel back to the plans rather than the justice he had been put in detention then brought here. A reasonable course of action to be sure.

"What the hell is wrong with you boy? Where is the justice? And what happened to the freedom? And why the hell did we just get attacked by Noah fucking Carson!?" his father shouted at him, practically foaming at the mouth with rage.

"No father this time I'm asking the questions. And I'm asking my father Patrick zala, not chairman zala." Said athrun which only got Patrick even angrier.

"What did you say to me!?"

"I have only one question to ask…how much longer we are going to keep fighting this war? How many more people must die before you see things clearly?" asked athrun as his father jumped to his feet.

"What the hell are you blabbering on about now? You let that damn natural get inside your head didn't you!?" he shouted.

Athrun had no doubts the guards and other politicians could hear his shouting.

Athrun chuckled nervously and sighed. "I only came back to ask that one question in person because I had to give you the benefit of the doubt….if I didn't I'd be no better then you…"said athrun before his father slammed his fist down on his desk.

"How dare you. HOW FUCKING DARE YOU! Why the fuck should I answer that kind of question from a boy who knows nothing about what's going on? Especially when the man who filled his head with such nonsense just slaughtered nearly 30 of his fellow pilots and god knows how many in the ships he sunk!" shouted Patrick as he began to walk around his desk.

Athrun wasn't even surprised this was what happened with Noah. Dead or alive Noah wouldn't let Gabriel fall into zafts hands. How he got here athrun would never know. But he knew his father was a fool to think Noah wouldn't go down or away without a fight.

Athrun thought back to what Alice had shown him. The teenager had been kind enough to show athrun the footage Noah spoke of from this "gundam wing endless waltz". His father was like a mixture of deikim and mariemaia. Angry at the past and delusional as to the fact he was clearly being manipulated. Who was pulling the strings athrun didn't know…but after watching those clips he could see the strings on his father's back…and likely also azreals. But who was the maestro of this play?

"How can you not see it father? How can you so blindly rush into fighting with the earth forces when clearly there is someone playing both sides?!" athrun finally shouted in return.

"Alaska, panama, Victoria…you attacked because you were attacked first and then they fought back…"

"AND THAT'S HOW WARS ARE FOUGHT ATHRUN! DID MY POSITION IN ZAFT REALLY GET YOU YOUR RED UNIFORM OR ARE YOU SO STUPID YOU DON'T KNOW HOW WARS ARE FOUGHT?!" screamed the zala patriarch.

"IT ISN'T HOW WARS ARE FOUGHT! IT'S HOW THE CYCLE CONTINUES! THE CYCLE OF MEANINGLESS BATTLES OVER WHAT?! TERRITORY? OVER HOW ONE IS BORN? OVER SOMEONE KILLING ANOTHER PERSON?" shouted athrun, his father surprised by this outrage and silencing himself.

"BEFORE ALASKA I THOUGHT NICOL KILLED YZAK SO I KILLED KIRA'S BEST FRIEND AND THEN IN RETALIATION WE BOTH TRIED TO KIL EACH OTHER AND I THOUGHT I HAD SUCCEDDED! ALL ON YOUR ORDERS FATHER! ON YOUR ORDERS SO MANY INNOCENT MEN AND WOMEN DIED AFTER NOAH RISKED HIS LIFE TO SAVE EVERYONE, COORDINATORS AND NATURALS! AND PANAMA YOU DIDN'T EVEN GIVE THE NATURALS A CHANCE TO SURRENDER AFTER EVERYTHING YOU HAD OUR TROOPS DO!" shouted athrun before he hung his head and began to sniffle, trying not to start crying.

"How many more times must I kill someone I love on your orders father? How many more lives need to be lost before you realize mother wouldn't want you to lead our people this way?" asked athrun before finally finishing.

"W-where did you get all this nonsense into your head? Where did you…"

"NO! DON'T EVEN START WITH THAT BULL CRAP! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN!" yelled athrun.

"Yes…I spoke with Noah and he knows how this is going to end. It doesn't even matter how it's written all over the campaigns you and the naturals are going on. This war is going to end in one big cluster fuck of a battle with both sides aiming to annihilate the other. Pure genocide." Said athrun in a numb tone before angrily jabbing his finger at his father. "UNLESS YOU CAN SEE PAST YOUR SHORT SIGHTED ANGER, STOP LETTING IT CLOUD YOUR JUDGMENT AND STOP THIS ENDLESS WALTZ!"

Patrick was seething in rage at that last outburst. "That's the whole point of this war you dumb boy! Those naturals are jealous of us. They make us out to be monsters, freaks, abominations just for how we are born and so long as even one stands we will not know peace!" shouted Patrick as he grabbed athrun by the collar. "Now answer me carefully because I am not in a forgiving mood. Where are the justice and freedom? What have you done with our machines!?"

As his father shoved him down and got his gun out of his desk athrun could only chuckle. This argument…what was the point? Another battle for his father to prove he was a worthless waste of space? To prove he could never gain his approval even if he brought him Noah Carson and a GN drive himself?

No he'd have to literally be worthless by then, crippled maybe? Missing an arm or a leg…somehow he felt this argument was his father trying to reassure himself that he was correct…like a zealot whose point has been proven wrong and they won't give up.

He heard his father ask him again about the machines and threaten to have him arrested if he didn't answer….so he just sat there and looked at the floor, ashamed at the moment to even share the same DNA as the man before him as the guards rushed in and aimed their rifles at him.

As athrun was hauled out of his father's office he actually smiled seeing the crowd. They all heard the argument…they all were seeing how far his father had gone. If anything was accomplished by his torture and death it was that he opened a few people's eyes to what was happening and maybe that alone would make a difference.

He finally looked up when the guards holding him were surprised by something. In the car in front of him was Noah…with a grenade pin in his hand.

"Hey there guys…nice day to die huh?"

Wait where'd the grenade…oh…that was all athrun could think before Noah tackled him away from the two guards and covered him as the grenade went off and took the car and a few of the guards with it.

"what the…Noah what are you doing here?" asked athrun as Noah helped him up and he was surprised to see one of his armed escorts shoot the secret service members joining them to ensure they were dead.

"Could you not have warned me you were gonna do it like that?" asked the guard as athrun turned to Noah and watched him un-cuff him.

"What can I say I was channeling duo…I'll explain later. Anyways just be thankful we are too close to Patrick's office for me to pull out a gunpla. Then we'd really be in hell." Stated Noah before the guard groaned.

Athrun looked between Noah and the zaft MP. "Just what is going on here?"

"We can talk later but Noah here is helping us get Mrs. Clyne out of the plants. We are part of what they are calling clyne faction…" he said before Noah interrupted him.

"Dacosta we really don't have time…oh good at least Larry survived. Seriously…your names Larry?" asked Noah as a guard that survived joined them and the one known as dacosta handed athrun his side arm.

"Fuck you Carson! Let's just go!" shouted the other one known as Larry before athrun was forced to follow the three men.

A little while later Noah scrambled to get stuff out of the duffle bag he had with him.

"Stop over there!" shouted Noah and the driver nearly forced them all into the windshield as they drove up to a hangar.

"There's nothing in here Noah what the hell!?" asked dacosta when Noah opened his door to the military jeep they stole.

"That's the point. The city was already in checkpoint mode for me, with athrun gone Patrick will likely shut the colony down basically. You`ll need a distraction to keep the spaceport open while they launch a counter attack. Don't worry I'll keep the fighting to the base and I'll use Kira's tactics." Stated Noah before closing the door and hitting it twice.

"Fuck…he better not stay behind and get himself killed. Mrs. Lacus will have my head if he does that." Stated dacosta as they drove away.

Athrun though knew what Noah was doing. "Always has to be dramatic about it doesn't he…"muttered the purple haired coordinator.

Break

Noah sighed as he sat in his hastily repaired gouf elite's cockpit. He once again flexed his fingers over the control balls and counted down. "10….9….8…7…" by now the eternal was beginning its prep sequence and lacus was just getting aboard while athrun and dacosta were likely just stealing a shuttle to get to the eternal. "6…5…4…3…" Noah continued to count as the machine began to power up. He could hear the space ports defenses going after the shuttle they stole.

"Time to make my entrance once more…2…1…" said Noah and with that the ground shook as the eternal shot out the main gate to their hangar.

"only have time to distract them for a few seconds then I have to make my exit…better mark it…"stated Noah as the Zeon machine stood up and crashed through the roof of the hangar he set up in. quickly noticing where the small defense team sent to meet him made up of three GINN's he marked it knowing there was likely a way back out of the plants.

He waited a moment, turned to hide his Gatling shield. When the GINNs raised their rifles and were about to open fire Noah turned and raised the massive shield and chain gun. "So guys…or girls…I hate to make this a "mines bigger" situation but…mines bigger." He said in a crude joke before the barrel began spinning up. The three machines split up and while the middle one tried to climb away from him Noah lowered his targeting reticle and opened up, all most all of his shots connecting and shredding the green mobile suits legs and a slight shift had its rifle and right arm up in flames

The one that boosted to the right closed in, trying to see what would happen if he tried to stab Noah's new machine…well new to them.

As the remains of the first ginn fell Noah turned and with the kampher arm that replaced his lost right arm reached back to grab the shotgun that he also moved from the undamaged kampher elite. Without missing a step Noah drew out the CQB gun and pumped a single shell at the GINN's legs again. The massive pellets disabled the legs so that when Noah side stepped it's thrust at him it simply fell to the ground as it tried to land while Noah tossed the shotgun up, caught it on the pump action and used the inertia to pump it, toss it up once more and caught it on the grip.

2 down one more to go…and this one was GREEN.

Even after seeing everything that their fellow pilots endured this pilot thought it was smart to try both techniques. Raising its rifle they did not hesitate to open up on Noah in their left hand while their right drew the GINN's sword and they tried to hit him with a downward slash.

Noah managed to block all of the GINNs shots and when the sword hit his shield Noah shoved it aside.

"Sorry guys…I tried…" he felt bad as he turned and shoved the barrel of the shotgun to the GINN's gut…aka the cockpit…and pulled the trigger.

As the GINN exploded Noah boosted off towards where they launched from and began his fight you into space.

Break

By the time he got outside he saw the shuttle heading into the rear hatch of the eternal and gunned his engines. Not bothering to inform them of his arrival he found the doors about to catch his foot as the giant mech tumbled into the ship though given what it was meant to hold Noah easily got it sliding on one knee and between that and both guns sliding on the floor the machine came to a halt.

He got out to see athrun staring up at his machine and smirked. "Yeah…the sweet thing about gunpla…usually the guy who built it uses the same parts for limbs and such…like me. A quick repair and Zeon was ready to show zaft where they came from. Come on we need to head to the bridge."

With that athrun began following Noah and the one known as dacosta through the ship.

When they reached the bridge athrun was greeted by lacus and he smiled. "Why am I not surprised? So you're the captain of this vessel?" asked athrun as they shared a brief hug.

"Technically yes but in terms of combat operations I'm the main guy to talk to." Said a rather older and deeper voice. The chair in front of lacus' spun around and athrun's eyes went wide.

"Hey…nice to finally meet you. Welcome to the ship of the songstress. I`m Andrew waltfeld." Said the main before his chair spun back around.

The teen looked to the pink haired songstress and raised an eyebrow. "We have a lot to talk about don't we?" asked athrun and lacus nodded before Noah passed them.

"Hey where are you going?" asked athrun.

"Well we are about to enter fighting range of the jachin duea forces. I need to go swap the gouf elite for Gabriel or we are screwed." Stated Noah as he entered the lift and the door closed behind athrun.

"Kids got a good intuition." Stated waltfeld as athrun heard the radar operator call out about mobile suit contacts, about 50 of them. It was the jachin forces and he noticed almost all of them were GINNs. Noah probably destroyed or maimed most of the higher ranking suits earlier.

"Does this ship have any mobile suits?"

"Nope fresh out kid. This ship was designed for the exclusive use of the freedom and the justice…and I guess whatever that other kid is using. Sounds like he has multiple, might see if he has one you can use." Stated waltfeld but lacus stopped him.

"please your injured and Noah's machines are very powerful but if the models he showed me are what he is using then the one he calls Gabriel is the only one that can be used to fight this many forces and still keep up with us." Pleaded lacus to which athrun nodded.

"Ok…I'll stay."

Lacus smiled and looked out front. "Please open all channels for an outgoing communication." Requested lacus but waltfeld chuckled.

"We just got pinged for one so I think Noah beat you too it. Kid sure enjoys his speeches." Laughed waltfeld as Noah's voice came over the radio.

"Attention jachin duea defense forces. This is Noah Carson in the Gabriel gundam. Earlier I went easy on you as I was intent on getting to this ship. Onboard is lacus clyne. She's the one you should be following not Patrick zala. She is his enemy purely because they see drastically different futures for your people. Where Patrick wishes to see nothing but an endless cycle of meaningless battles till either your all wiped out or the naturals are wiped out to the last screaming infant she actually wants to end this war just like celestial being…well in a more peaceful way." Said Noah, growling as he clearly felt he wasn't getting his point across.

"point is if you attack us now out of Patrick zala's will I cannot promise all of you will live….but let us pass and get powerful and dangerous technology out of the hands of that mad man and no harm will come to any of you. Please…for her sake I'm begging you not to attack us…I already have more blood on my hand then I intended when all this started." Said Noah before the line was cut.

"Sir the GINN's are still inbound…the Gabriel has begun engaging them!"

"I figured they wouldn't change their beliefs so easily….Noah will be hard to change too." Said waltfeld somberly as he watched the fight begin.

"Sir GINN's inbound from above…they are using heavy weapons!"

"Bring up anti-air defenses, try and hold them off till Noah can come back and deal with…"

"SIR MISSILES INBOUND FROM BEHIND US…THERES TOO MANY TO INTERCEPT!" shouted the radar operator.

Right as waltfeld wondered if he had put too much hope in Noah defending them a green beam came out of nowhere and blew up one of the missiles…and another….and a white and black blur flew past them.

"Is that Kira?" asked athrun as he watched the tactical screens and one by one the missiles were shot down.

Of course both him and lacus watched as just as Kira unleashed his mobile suits full arsenal Noah seemed to stop amongst his own group of GINNS and with that six red blurs shot off his back and flew around him before returning. A moment later weapons, heads, limbs…everything but the cockpits on 15 ginns exploded.

With that the 6 ginns still surrounding him let go of their weapons and raised their arms. Noah smirked. "Good…you`ve learned your lesson then…"he said before he flew off to join Kira in escorting the eternal back to the Mendel colony.

_THE THREE BECOME FOUR_

Flay sighed as she sat in the mess hall of the Vesalius. She pushed her food around with her fork as she sat alone for this meal time. She had been forced into a zaft green uniform, her pink celestial being uniform likely burned or something.

Le creuset had told her to go eat after she sat in her quarters for so long, trying to ignore her hunger. She was not a fan of being here. And to think the earth forces were the reason she was here. She wasn't allowed on the bridge and her rooms monitor was not given access to camera feeds like the archangels so she was resting her hope on rumors of a new blitz gundam being fielded and the return of celestial being.

The only reason she hadn't tried to steal a mobile suit or escape back on earth and really earn her spot in celestial being was yzak. The silver haired coordinator had taken a liking to her or pity or something. Either way he was kind to her and made her feel like someone gave a damn about her here because god knows rau didn't. Even she could see he had plans for her. What they were she had no idea.

So when yzak sat across from her she looked up and smiled. For a moment she could see the fellow teen seemed somewhat happy to see her smile but a couple of greens walked by and his scowl returned before his face returned to a more neutral expression.

"You should eat. The commander doesn't want you starving yourself anymore. "He said with little emotion as he took her hand and forced her to get some food on her fork. "Eat….or I'll be forced to make you." He said.

As flay looked at the food she watched him reach into his pocket and pull something out. He set it under a napkin and slid it to her.

"Maybe this will give you whatever hope you need to try and survive. You're not in the brig so be happy about that at least." Stated the pilot of the duel.

Flay lifted the napkin and blinked. It was part of her uniform. A hastily cut section with the celestial being symbol still stitched on. "Thank you." She said quietly before pocketing it and starting to eat.

"They rebuilt the duel. Guess the techs had enough time working on it to work out the specs and even improved on It." he stated, clearly wanting some form of small talk. Maybe he was interested in her.

"that's interesting…what do you mean improved on it?" she asked, genuinely curious as she not only knew this would be a good chance to get intel for Noah but also thought maybe the suit had received some form of an upgrade that would allow her to steal it and get away.

Yzak opened his mouth to start talking but stopped and thought about it for a moment. "No…when you get out of here you`ll just go tell Noah about it and he`ll be ready for me." Stated the hothead as he crossed his arms in annoyance.

She shook her head. "No I swear I won't. You seem happy to have a new mobile suit, just wanna hear about It." she said with a smile. The teen could see the boy was definitely made to be a soldier as when he thought she genuinely cared he sighed and started explaining all the upgrades to his suit. It was starting to feel like Kira had in all those flashbacks and while it killed her to do it…she was proud she was starting to get him wrapped around her little finger.

"Well for starters they improved the phase shift armor. I guess with my suit being the only gat series left they wanted to put some new tech in it. They also found designs in some stolen E.A. files to integrate my assault shroud into the duel to reinforce the armor but the stupid naturals were going to just laminate those parts. Guess they don't want their ace pilots surviving or else they`d shell out the cash for the P.S. armor." He said, a smile creeping onto his face as he pulled out a tablet and brought up the specs for his new gundam.

"They improved the thrusters and put the beam saber mounts down on the thigh armor which will make it easier to just ditch my weapon and draw them out. They added more armor to the forearms and added folding mounts for a pair of beam pistols. Guess they saw the new blitz and figured the pistols were a good choice for CQC." He said as he showed her the specs for a gundam known as the "duel: regen"

"They also added ejectable missile pods that can attach to the back pack. Then there's the new rail guns at the hips and they added mounts on each shoulder for shields and both shields have a smaller rail gun built in. they got rid of my old Shiva rail gun on the right shoulder and replaced it with a second missile pod." He stated, his eyes gleaming at the amount of firepower.

"It sounds like they wanted to replace the buster with your duel but didn't want to sacrifice how mobile your gundam was." she said with a cute giggle. She knew already yzak had an ego and a temper. So stroking that ego was her best way to make him a friend to her.

The proud coordinator chuckled. "Yeah probably. They must have realized it would have been easier to combine the two G-weapons and let me pilot it then hold out for elsman coming back with the buster."

Flay giggled and continued to eat, listening to yzak go on about his skills and his battles, pointing out every flaw of his teammates. It was interesting to hear the tale of her time on the archangel from one of the people who had tailed them.

Break

Dearka sighed as he laid on his bed. Even though he was celestial being he had been given quarters on the archangel. Why he was here…that's what he was trying to figure out.

He wasn't Nicol. He didn't have the blood of his fellow kinsmen on his hands. He had wasted plenty of the earth alliances new machines and could bring vital technology and information to the homeland if he went back to the plants.

He'd be a hero!

Dearka groaned and closed his eyes as he rolled to face the wall. Yeah he'd be a hero…if chairman zala didn't kill him for not bringing back Noah or his head. Maybe that's what was keeping him here? The fear of knowing it was the toss of a coin as to whether going home would see him through the war any better than staying here.

Maybe he'd get promoted? Dearka shook his head. No that would just put someone else in the buster panzer and the idea of someone else sitting in that mobile suit left a sour taste in his mouth. He wasn't fit to lead a team anyways. Leadership was too hard of work.

But again maybe he'd get shot and killed. Wouldn't matter then.

But as he thought about what harm would come of him dying…aside from the obvious and the fact zaft would have GN drive tech he could only think of one person who he wondered if they`d miss him.

He was pulled from his musings by his door opening. He sighed, thinking it would be Nicol asking why he was here and not on the purgatory.

"Look Nicol if you're here to ask why I'm not on the purgatory its cause I'm not sure if I'm even staying. And don't go all "well me and Noah will kill you if you try to leave." If I'm gonna leave I'm gonna leave." He said.

He felt someone lay down next to him and his eyes went wide. He was ready to roll over and shove Nicol out of the bed until he felt a pair of soft, supple mounds press against his back and a soft, smooth cheek nuzzle its way into the crook of his neck.

"That's a shame. I had really hoped you`d stay." Said an all too familiar voice as her hands wrapped around him and he brought his own hands up to hold hers.

Dearka looked down and sighed. "Why? All we did was kiss. What was it supposed to mean?" he asked as miriallia pressed her body closer to his.

The natural brunette shrugged. "I'm not quite sure. I had hoped to come and talk to you about it." She said softly, the somewhat intimate mood between them feeling somewhat correct to both of them.

Dearka smiled and chuckled. "All I know was I was explaining how all I could think have was you and your kindness when I was defending the ship. A debt repaid. But at the same time all I could picture is you looking out at the missiles and the fighters, terrified that it could be your last moments and it killed me to think about that." Stated the Casanova coordinator.

Miriallia giggled. "Well there was a time I was staring down yours or nicol's barrel and wondering if I was going to survive." She said, his hands releasing hers and she found them shifting so that they were facing each other, her finger tracing the celestial being patch on the tan jacket that was part of his uniform.

"When that fighter jet squadron came in for their attack run and I heard we couldn't shoot them down I was worried it was going to be the end. I wanted to think of Noah or even Kira coming to rescue us but to be honest…I thought of you. I hoped maybe all that time you were in our brig would have made you a better person and that you`d save us. But at the same time I figured if you managed to get the buster or whatever Nicol had left you, you probably would take off to go rejoin zaft. So when you contacted us after attacking the fighters I have to admit my heart kinda melted." She said, her face bright red.

Dearka chuckled again. It was true. If she hadn't been so kind to him. If she hadn't come and talked to him now and then, hadn't been the one to make sure he got all his meals…if he hadn't had that weird dream where she defended him while he was in the med-bay and that flay girl attacked him…he probably would have left and not thought for a second of using the buster or buster panzer to make sure miriallia and the archangel survived.

"So what do we do now? I mean what do you wanna do?" he asked as she moved closer to him.

For a moment she bit her lip, trying to decide what to say or do. Finally she decided on pressing her lips to his before grabbing his sheets and pulling the covers over them.

The rest can be left behind closed doors…

Break

"So that whole ship…was a model...built by a 16 year old girl?" asked waltfeld as he sipped on his coffee and listened to the tale of the three other captains in this little alliance.

He could have heard it from Noah himself…but he opted not to. No he didn't need all the technical details and basically the celestial being pitch.

Captain Rozene nodded, taking a sip from her water bottle. "Yes commander. And she's not even a coordinator." Stated the blue haired woman.

"you have to admit that if people like here are where Noah came from and they can customize a mobile suit to such an extent and with such detail…what all can we expect to see from Noah's friends?" asked murrue as she enjoyed her own cup of coffee. Finally…a cup of java she could actually enjoy.

Kisaka nodded in agreement. "I saw some of his friend's mobile suits. The level of customization wasn't as high as Noah's with something like the Gabriel but the way they fought spoke volumes in terms of likely how toned down their mobile suits were in comparison to likely what they usually piloted."

Murrue looked to the orb commander. "You think Noah might have asked them to use a specific strength level of machine so that the battle wasn't over quickly or something?"

Kisaka nodded again. "The one mirroring la flaga's new mobile suit seemed more advanced than the other two but was a good middle in terms of armament. More specifically it was that shield that could absorb the beams. It was the most advanced and custom piece of hardware any of them had."

"Wondered if the pilot was given some kind of extra permission due to perhaps being the original builder of that design." Pondered waltfeld.

"Noah did mention a "Sei Lori" as the build strike's original builder and I have to say compared to the original strike…I almost wonder what would have happened at Heliopolis if we came up with the design. It's fast, agile…hell Kira ran simulations in it while we were traveling here and recreated what first happened. He said had he had access to those beam sabers and the enhanced head Vulcans Heliopolis could have gone a whole different way. He compared it to a medium between the versatility of the strike and the speed and agility of the freedom with a good combination of the firepower both suits have." Said murrue as she recalled talking to mu and Kira about the new variant to the strike.

At that statement waltfeld chuckled. "Sounds like if you`d had it back then zaft would have been in trouble. That much fire power, must have a reactor in there. Thought only zaft built the n-jammer cancellers." He said as the desert tiger stood from where he was leaning and looked to his lover who was sitting in the corner reading.

"They are. Noah provided Erica in morgenroete with the designs and formula for a micro fission reactor shielded by something called gundanium. I have no clue how it works but I guess the N-jammers can't reach it through the casing. Even then it isn't directly powered by the reactor. The reactor is just constantly feeding the battery with power." Stated murrue.

Waltfeld nodded and sighed. "So what the plan then? Noah given you guys any clues as to what's next?"

Rozene shook her head. "No. he just asked us to be ready for combat at any time."

"So we're flying blind then?"

The blue haired coordinator shrugged. "Currently I'm operating and planning as if Noah isn't exactly here. He seems fine with it so long as what Alice says goes. Otherwise he has yet to actually inform me of any war plans of any kind."

The three other captains sighed.

"Well at least he's here. That's good enough for me. Let's figure out what our next move should be." Said the tiger as he took a sip from his cup of coffee.

Rozene decided to voice her own ideas. "I was thinking we operate under standard staging ground protocols. Have the pilots do patrol routes on timed shifts, try to set up traps or some type of early warning system outside our radars. Get the ships prepped and ready to move out."

The other three captains nodded.

"That's a good plan. Pretty standard and probably something we were all thinking of but hey, don't fix what isn't broke right?" asked waltfeld as he looked to Rozene who blushed, realizing he was right on just how standard that line of action was.

"We have enough pilots perhaps we should work out overlapping patrol shifts? Have 2 or three pilots out at a time?" asked murrue to which kisaka nodded.

"Yes. Most of my astray pilots are still green. I would prefer they be sent out in their teams or with one of our ace pilots. It would be good for them to learn from them, maybe have them run drills with them." Suggested kisaka.

The group agreed and waltfeld realized his cup of coffee was empty. "Whelp I think that's good enough for now. We should keep in contact, update each other on anything going on or issues. I`ll get the crew started on preparing the eternal, we had a bit of a rushed exit so we have things to stow, stations to set up. It might take a bit but hopefully we will be safe here." Stated waltfeld and with that the meeting was adjourned.

_The three become four_

Luke watched the young girl's chest rise and fall. An oxygen mask over her face, mayu Asuka was currently heavily sedated after the emergency surgery the doctors had to perform. The one good thing about her wound…soldiers lost limbs all the time in combat so even ship bound combat docs were trained for field amputation and clean up.

For now bandages were wrapped around the nub just above her elbow on her right arm. Luke's eyes were red from tears. She had coded twice but each time she came back. The doctors said she certainly had a strong will to survive. But was it that or her coordinator DNA?

Either way as the girls heart monitor picked up a bit he looked to her face and saw that her eyes were starting to open. As soon as they were at half-awake they shot open and once again he was on top of her…kinda. He held her shoulders and just shushed her.

"Mayu relax…relax! You're ok…your safe. Come on now just go back to sleep. You`ve been through a horrible tragedy. You need to relax!" he shouted as the doctors came in but he waved off the second dose of sedatives. He figured her body would filter them faster than normal but he didn't expect anything different aside from a heavier dose from the natural medics. Regardless the original doctor stationed on the archangel stood by with a syringe.

After a few moments of thrashing to try and get Luke off her mayu slowly calmed down, panting under the mask as she looked up into his eyes, fear in hers. "Relax….your safe I swear it. I`m gonna let go now and your gonna just relax and listen ok?" he asked calmly. Slowly the coordinator child nodded and Luke moved back to his seat.

"Ok…you`ve been in a horrible tragedy. Due to a mobile suit exploding….your family aside from your brother are gone. Your brother however managed to get on a sub headed to Carpentaria and will be making his way to the plants by now." He said, stopping as he saw her eyes turn to saucers, tears welling up in them.

"Also due to the explosion you were thrown against a large boulder and somehow had your arm torn off. Currently you're on the former earth alliance vessel _archangel _where the medics were able to stabilize you." He said and she began to visibly shake, glancing to the doctors.

Luke snapped his fingers to regain her attention. "Hey hey…I said you're safe and even swore by it. I`m Luke and my word is my bond. You have nothing to fear here. You understand so far?" he asked.

The poor brunette coordinator nodded. "w-what about my brother…will I get to see him again?" she asked, reaching up with her left arm to pull the mask off for a moment.

Luke nodded. "In time…but first we have to get your arm fixed." He said quietly before fixing the oxygen mask.

Mayu slowly nodded, tears running down her face as she slowly raised her right arm, the sobbing starting as she saw the remains of her arm.

Quickly Luke sat down on her bed and pulled her up into a hug. She latched onto him and just started bawling into his chest. This what he expected of her reaction. For the moment Luke just rubbed her back and rocked her, letting the 9 year old cry till she was ready to hear him explain the plan to help her with her arm.

Finally after a few minutes mayu calmed down and thanked him for consoling her. Laying down she was still sniffling and could only hold her right arm up as best she could, unable to get over the loss of her arm.

"now mayu…we have a way to get your arm back…it's gonna hurt so we want to put you in a chemically induced coma for it…but if my information is correct on the ship my friend is the captain of, the _purgatory, _has advanced medical tech that allows them to stimulate the stem cells in your body and it should regrow your arm. But it's gonna take time and it's gonna hurt. It's called cellular regeneration." He explained as mayu lowered her arm.

"It's gonna hurt?" she asked. At 9 the concept of regrowing ones limbs was lost on her.

Luke nodded. "Yes…a lot. Way more than most pain medications safe for a kiddo your age would cover. So we wanna put you in a chemically induced coma till your arm is re-grown."

Mayu looked away from him for a moment, biting her lip under the mask as she tried to decide what to say. "And my arm will be all better?" she asked, her innocence shining through her bandaged figure.

Luke nodded in response, motioning for the doctor to radio the _purgatory. _

Mayu finally looked back to him and nodded, pulling the covers up over her as she seemed to try to hide. Clearly her mind was regressing somewhat, likely to let that innocent, naïve mind of a child hide mayu from the truth of the incident.

Luke nodded in return and took her hand, holding it to comfort her till the medical team was ready to move her.

Break

**So…hope you guys like the chapter. Like I said huge mistake with the uploading process. It is a bit different but hopefully in a good way. **

**Also this was where I mentioned to lack of reviews guys. Just a small quip about the fact I have so many more chapters then nemesis astrea's original story and I realize part of that is his OC contests and he is a much better writer then me…BUT still…reviews keep me focused and going…so REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**

**ANYWAYS HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE CHAPTER!**


	22. a whole new world

"**Reality" 5 hours since arriving at the Mendel colony**

Noah smiled as he saw the looks on the faces of the baker team. Not long ago he had ridden back to the Mendel colony on the eternal and had set to work preparing for the intense battles to come. This all started with upgrading the baker team's mobile suits.

So he had stuffed himself and the three coordinators into the Gabriel's cockpit as well as had Luke stuff Nicol and Nina into the blitz' cockpit. Once everyone was "safely" inside they had both cut the simulation and introduced the 5 coordinators to "reality"

Obviously comments were made regarding the differences in technology and advancement of said tech. also Nils insisted the five formerly fictional characters got a quick exam by the labs medical team. Once everyone was deemed in top health and introduced the meijin Kawaguchi, Sei Lori and Nils Neilson Noah decided to explain just what they were all doing there while transportation to Lori hobbies was arranged.

"So…I know I told you three that you`d receive upgraded units when and if your survived orb…which you did. You all did. Which makes me proud to admit I have decided rather than waiting till the final battles for you all to make your own custom gundam units you will get the chance to try your hand at customizing your own personal units but I have conditions." Stated Noah as he looked to the group of technically fictional characters.

"so for starters you can choose to either have open customization of a grunt level suit, which means you can do anything from adding weapons and tech to just a simple paint job. While this limits what your base model will be able to do, aside from the advanced series "gundam seed destiny" which takes place after this current war you`ll have a much wider array to choose from since I won't restrict which series you pick from." Stated Noah to which Alfred raised his hand.

"Sir could you define the differences between the different level of mechs?" asked the English/American coordinator.

Noah nodded. "So I classify mechs based on who mainly piloted them. If no one of real value piloted them or it was just an ace like…well like Miguel…"said Noah, motioning towards Nicol who nodded, understanding what he meant. "Then it's a grunt suit cause usually that ace, if a pilot was even named, either doesn't live long or quickly moves up to something stronger in the series. Sorry Nicol. Anyways from there you jump into command suits, sometimes also mass produced suits usually beefed up from their grunt counterpart. Like say in the new iron blooded orphan series a standard graze has a flat head but the commander variant, and most grunt suits are like this, has an added antennae to help with communications." Said Noah as the van that would be transporting them pulled up.

"Then you have machines designed as commander specific units, limited yet mass produced like the CGUE or the new GUIAZ. Usually a bit more expensive to produce so they reserve them for ace pilots and commanders. Often they have custom color schemes as well. If you guys pick a command suit you`ll be limited not only in your selection but limited in terms of what I'll allow you to do to it because again they are already usually beefed up." With that the group climbed into the van and Sei began to take them on the long drive back to his shop.

"Then you get specialized suits which vary between the different levels between grunt and commander types. These are just units that specialize in a type of combat like Valeria's zaku striker. It's a sniper but makes up for CQC with the beam scythe/pole arm I added. These suits are good if you guys wanna kinda pick where we will field you till the final battle." Noah looked between the three as he could see their brains working on what they wanted their MS to do.

"Then you have proto-gundams like the strike and the gat series. Advanced machinery that is at the top of its class but is not completed…well in terms of the series. A gundam in general falls in the same category but I classify gundams like the gat series as "proto gundams" because eventually something better comes out like the freedom. But over all a gundam not only will have it in its name and is unavailable to you guys at the moment but basically if it has a more human face it's a gundam. The golden V-fin sensor suite is also a strong indicator." stated Noah, stopping to let them absorb all the information.

The three pilots all seemed deep in thought. After all they were being told they could design their own mobile suits. Most pilots didn't get to custom tailor a mobile suit to their preferences.

_A whole new world_

Nina smiled as she looked out the window though. She didn't care about all this. She was just happy to see where Noah came from. This…"reality" was beautiful. It seemed so different from the cosmic era and not for the obvious reasons. There were no N-jammers so nothing blocked the radio as it played. There wasn't that obvious tension of whether or not the war would hit this area or any obvious signs of a military base close enough for MS to be training.

It just seemed so peaceful.

As they pulled into the city Nina watched as people interacted with one another. She heard the others ohhh and ohhh at things and even saw some people with different colored hair. She guessed they had died it as the oddly colored hair was basically a coordinator signature and no one seemed bothered by them.

Eventually she noticed they left the city and was confused when they began heading into a suburban area.

They pulled into an alley and stopped next to a two story house though she had noticed it looked like the bottom floor had been remodeled into a small shop. As they all filed out and followed Sei back out of the alley and around she heard some kids playing and looked down when a soccer ball hit her foot.

She looked up to see the kids waiting for her to kick it back and smiled, gently kicking the ball to them. It was nice not to see a group of kids see her white hair and instantly show concern at the obvious fact…well not to them but obvious fact of what she was. Nina hadn't exactly gotten to enjoy her time back in Africa because of that…and her paladin had needed so much maintenance.

Once she remembered what they were doing she noticed Noah smiling as he held the door open for her. She thanked him and walked in, noticing Alfred already holding two model boxes and looking them over carefully while Valeria browsed and Cecil was busy talking to Sei as they looked at his display case.

Noah took her hand and she looked to him, smiling as he lead her through the small store and stopped in front of a group of models. He sifted through them and eventually held up one that looked like her paladin.

"The OZ-00MS tall geese. It's the base model the zero system used for your paladin." stated Noah as he handed it to her. She looked it over. The full original model was beautiful…or maybe it was the fact it wasn't the piece of trash she used against her lover.

Noah then walked away and she followed him. He stopped and set another model on top of the tall geese box. It was a launcher/sword strike set. Both models were of the "MG" scale. She looked up to him and blinked.

"I didn't know if you might wanna remake your paladin or even better you could customize it. Whatever you want, just go ahead and put it on my tab. I`m gonna go see how the others are doing. And feel free to add full models or whatever you need to make what you want." he said, kissing Nina on the lips before walking off to check on his pilots.

Nina looked at the two models she held and at the ones around her. Her coordinator mind was quickly putting together so many possibilities based just on what she could see but she knew some things were hidden and after watching Noah and seeing all he had built she knew she was likely thinking small time compared to what he could teach her to build. With that in mind she went to find the front counter to put her models down before searching for more.

_A whole new world_

Valeria was biting on her thumb as she looked through the "HGCE" or High Grade Cosmic Era section while trying to decide what to use as her base. She had to admit getting back into a DINN would be nice but she couldn't think of going through the process of customizing it for space.

She saw the GINN's and remembered what Noah had said about how customizable grunt suits were both in terms of actual customization and the options they would be allowed. But there was also to her the thought of still running a sniper unit.

Sei walked up and noticed her struggling. "Having trouble deciding on which unit to go with?" he asked as the zaft pilot jumped in surprise. Valeria turned to him and nodded, biting her lip as she went back to looking.

"From what I remember you were a sniper right? The custom zaku sniper Noah came and built." Stated Sei as he grabbed a ginn and waited for her response.

"Yeah…but zaft doesn't have a sniper unit, especially for space." She said sadly. Sei though shook his head.

"Actually zaft designed a variant of the GINN called the "long range recon GINN" with its optional equipment being a sniper rifle. It's mostly a recolor and some custom parts added. After that the sniper rifle is your choice if you want to "straight build it" basically build this ginn to be just that, no extra customizing." Stated Sei. Valeria's eyes lit up.

"Really? Could you show me what all id need to make it?" she asked, hoping the master builder would help her get everything she needed. Sure enough Sei nodded and began to lead her through the store.

_A whole new world_

Alfred already had been through the same isle as Valeria. He had grabbed a pair of CGUE models with plans to make something he hoped Noah allowed. Now he was just wanting to add onto it. So after talking with the woman at the counter, china Lori, about various weapons he liked the idea of these "funnel" things. So he had grabbed a pair of option kit sets with funnels in them, found a model known as the Kshatriya which had a unique "quad wing" set up and after examining the box it had funnels in each wing…

To be honest the amount of funnels he already wanted to attach he felt it was overkill. He had no idea how to handle these and yet he was wanting to pile as many onto his suit as possible.

Noah walked up and saw the stack of models and parts next to Alfred's name. He felt china was being very helpful by doing that. Going over the stack the variable combinations in his head he turned around to see Alfred set an options set on his stack that had a pair of katanas and various explosives in it along with a HWS GINN.

The English coordinator turned to his boss and waited for his approval.

"Ok first explain your thought process. You do realize this many funnels on a single mobile suit...I shouldn't allow it but you're gonna be stuck with guard duty. I mean hell add some antennae and radar dishes and you could be a one mobile suit army backing us up by extending the range of those things. "Said Noah as he shook his head at the amount of possibilities here.

Alfred smirked. "That's the plan. I wanna sit back and play bodyguard for the ship. I intend to put one of those chain gun shields on each arm of a CGUE base. From there I wanna replace it's shoulders with the quad wings and replace the side skirt armor with two of these funnel shield, skirt things." He said pointing to the option pack. At this point the amount of funnels he could field at once while having them on automated settings certainly rivaled the amount the MA from gundam 00: awakening of the trailblazer put out. Clearly though Alfred had more to say.

"I wanna add some missile racks to the legs from the GINN and the potato mashers from this option set here. Gonna mount a single katana on the back of the waist for CQB…annnnd….that's about it." He said, his accent certainly making the description interesting.

"What about colors? Any color changes?" asked Noah as he mulled over the concept and walked away down one isle.

"I was thinking green and black sir. Unless we have specific colors." stated Alfred as he followed his commander.

"Green and black is fine. My only requirements will be on the decals. Each machine will be required to have celestial beings symbol on it. But if your gonna go that whole route here's my suggestion. Till the final battle you are gonna be on patrol and guard duty for the colony and the ships. So along with those funnels which I'll help you write a program to allow you to launch and scatter them to turn them into mines that will activate if anyone enters an area, I want you to add extra thrusters for maneuvering and some speed…"he said, grabbing a model off the shelf and offering it to Alfred. It was a zaku mine layer.

"I want you to add on this backpack and whenever you're on patrol I want you to lay a mine field. Again I'll help you set up your OS to handle this but I think we can make you a great guard dog of sorts and great with laying traps and such." he stated as he watched Alfred think it over and finally nod.

"Yes sir. I think I can work with this. So my build is approved?" he asked.

Noah nodded. "For now. If you add anything else come to me first. Your machine is gonna be very handicapped by relying on so many funnels so if you go through with it your sticking yourself to the ships until you can master these." Stated Noah.

The coordinator nodded and went back to the counter to make sure he had everything.

_A whole new world_

Noah found Cecil looking in the iron blooded orphans section. What intrigued Noah was he had only a single unit in his hand, a modernized zaku two from the origin set, and was looking at the gusion rebake gundam.

"You know…the iron blooded orphans series really is quite unique in their gundam designs for one reason. Can you tell me what that is? The hint is the weapons." Stated Noah as Cecil jumped and looked at him.

Cecil then turned and looked at all the models from the aforementioned series. He picked a few up and looked them over. "No beam weapons. But why? Did they not wanna research it?" he asked as he set his model choices down.

Noah shrugged. "If I ever go there I'll ask. But to me it gives them a handicap in any gunpla battles. My guess is it has something to do with the fact they talk about something called the calamity war 300 years before the series starts. They don't show anything of it or go too deep into it but supposedly it brought humanity pretty close to annihilation or something. I can't remember. Been a while since I watched it." Said Noah, rubbing the back of his head.

"Either way during that war they made 72 gundam frames due to the difficult process it took to power them. It's also something that makes the models unique and highly customizable." said Noah as he opened a nearby 1/100th version of the gusion rebake box and pulled the still packed riggings out. "See these?" he asked, opening the instruction manual and showing the coordinator how the gundam had you build its frame first.

"Aside from certain parts even the high grades are like this. A lot of the series shares the same frame so parts are easily swapped. It's also how in the series the gusion rebake is even built. It is the definition of a salvage gundam. See after beating the gusion in battle, tekkaden takes it and breaks it down, rebuilding it and utilizing parts from it and the barbatos to make a new gundam on top of the gusions frame. They even use the gusions back armor to make the shield and its leg armor as the housing for the sub arms." Stated Noah, getting excited as he looked over the model.

Cecil smiled, seeing his boss in his natural element was surprising.

It was then Noah got an idea. "Tell you what. Since you lead the baker team and zaft is getting ahold of beam technology, therefore putting anything here at a disadvantage…if you wanted…and stay out of anything super advanced or beam technology from the weapon kits…I'd be ok with approving the use of a gundam from here as your upgrade. Besides with the gat series prototypes on the field and the freedom and justice now on the scene these are all technically outdated and outmatched….technically." said Noah with a smirk.

"But a smart coordinator like yourself can get around that can't you?" he asked to which Cecil smiled.

"I certainly can sir. But before I start what would you define as super advanced?"

Noah thought for a moment. "Basically remote weapons and beam technology for now. Other than that feel free to play around with whatever catches your eye." said Noah, patting Cecil's back before he walked off, knowing he had put plenty of ideas in the commander's head.

_A whole new world_

A couple hours later Noah finally decided to call it and had everyone grab the finishing touches on their models. They all had grabbed good selections in his opinion, even Nicol finding a few things to try his hand at modeling.

Cecil had grabbed basically every GUNDAM hg in the IBO section as well as all of the add-on kits. He also grabbed a few other high grades throughout the store. It looked to Noah like he may have had multiple ideas.

Valeria's pile on the front counter was somewhat small. It looked like she had a clear and definitive picture of what she wanted her custom suit to be.

Then there was the pile previously mentioned that Alfred had. Noah could only shake his head at the English-American coordinators plans. But at least that's what he and Cecil were. Coordinators. Both likely would build suits that even heero, master of the zero system would have trouble with.

He then looked to nicol's pile. It was small. A few Zeon kits, an hg cgue deep arms kit, and then a master grade kit of each of the gat series. Noah smiled at the, figuring he planned to remake the four proto-gundams out of nostalgia.

Finally he came to Nina's pile. Hers was almost as unique and tall as Cecil's but hers were all master grades or at least in the 1/100th scale. The issue Noah had was he couldn't get a feel for what all she was building.

The gundam builder turned pilot looked to Sei with a weak smile. "I can put all this on my tab right?" he asked. There was easily upwards of at least 2-3 grand worth of gunpla on the counter and that didn't count the Plaplate and paint they'd be adding during the build process. Noah could hear his banker screaming at him.

The famous creator of the build series of gunpla walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Tell ya what. You let me have a chance to go into your simulation, maybe even try piloting that build strike you had them build in orb…and it`s on the house." Said Sei, his grip firm on Noah's shoulder as both men chuckled.

"I think I can arrange something. Maybe backstage passes to lacus' next concert…err I guess it'd be Meer…anyways so…we all good?"

Sei nodded. "Just pay for the paint and styrene and yeah…we can call it even." He stated to which Noah nodded.

Noah turned to the five coordinators that he had brought with him and sighed. "Ok…now then each of us will be helping you guys build your own custom units…well mainly you three." He stated as he motioned to the three former DINN pilots.

"Nina, Nicol if you guys wanna just try building we can help but Nicol you have the blitz jaeger and Nina…sorry Hun but we can sort out a new machine for you later." He said to which they both nodded.

"That's kind of why I grabbed the models that I did. I figured I'd try my hand at "straight building" I think I've heard you calling it…before I try customizing." Said Nicol while Nina walked over to china and wrapped her arm around the world champs. "Me and china actually were gonna go upstairs and work on some things. She agreed to help me earlier." Stated the snow haired coordinator before she began gathering her pile of models and the two girls headed upstairs, leaving Noah, Luke, Nils and Sei to split up between the four pilots.

The group each found a spot to build in that fit their needs. Sei was helping Valeria at the register so she could get her recon GINN perfect wile Nils took Alfred so as to work out the complex machine he had imagined and Nils being an expert on complex gunpla.

Luke offered to work with Nicol as he was the least experienced builder out of the four and knew he could at least help him get down the basics with straight building.

That left Noah to help Cecil with his project…or projects as Noah discovered when him and Cecil began using the arena as a building space along with Nils and Alfred.

Whenever customers came in Sei would stop and help them or let them admire all the work being done as the models were built. Nicol just acted like he was a VERY dedicated cosplayer, even letting people take a few photos.

Noah would occasionally promote the game version of the simulation, usually boosting sales as people would love the idea of joining their favorite gundam characters in battle using certain mobile suits or they would see what everyone was building and get inspired for a custom unit.

Valeria was the first one done. Her model built and painted. An almost exact replica of the recon GINN except with celestial beings symbol added via decals to the radar dishes.

She was quick to try it on an old rival of sei's, sazaki when he came in who Sei was proud to basically spill the beans of Valeria's true identity as the gyan user had at this point become a world champion and was as cocky as ever…I mean he had to at some point right?

Of course she ended up fighting him on a space map with an asteroid belt. It didn't take long for her to make great use of her advanced recon abilities and hide till he ended up in a perfect position for her to finish him with a single shot through his cockpit.

As usual he couldn't understand how a rookie beat him, the 10th World Series champion, even after she explained just what all she did.

As the day went on Alfred finished his personal unit, currently a "no-name" mobile suit as he was not sure what to call it. The English-American coordinator though sadly spent the rest of the day working with Noah on coding his OS to work with all of the funnels.

The day ended with everyone gathering for a group photo, the machines they would be using for the foreseeable future in front of them.

Nina's aptly named "recon GINN" to shorten the title was a mixture of a midnight purple, black and with gold highlights. It stood proudly posed with its sniper rifle in hand in a relaxed posed.

Alfred's mobile suit was an olive green CGUE with the quad wings from the Kshatriya for its shoulders and modified CGUE shields on both arms, the main modifications being mounts to make them similar to the gouf custom shield. He had forgone the katana's and instead added storage racks for a pair of DINN heavy swords. A back up GINN rifle was stored on the back skirt but his side skirts had indeed been replaced with the MS option part set funnel skirts. The last modification was a pair of triple tube missile launchers on the legs.

The model was posed with its arms open along with the quad wings and skirt plates open as if it was launching the massive amount of funnels.

Cecil had decided to go with quite the unique creation in Noah's opinion. It was a gundam astaroth, a rather new and very customizable IBO model. The astaroth was painted in the gusion rebakes colors and had its legs swapped out with the gusion rebakes. The left arms was also switched and made to hold the rebakes shield. It had the rebakes binders aka the housing for its sub arms as well as the right arm was modified to have the larger support hand of the astaroth on it. He assumed this was to help it hold the gusion hammer which he had equipped it with.

Mounted on the back skirt armor was the gusion chopped and the sub arms were deployed for the posing in the picture. The right sub arm held the gusion rebakes long rifle while the left was holding the rebakes large axe. He could see the handle of the astaroths sword poking from the top of the shield and the left hand held the small submachine gun from the gusion kit. It seemed he intended to utilize the best of all three kits.

Finally the side skirts had been replaced with the thruster units from a barbatos sixth forms.

Nicol had his straight built master grade blitz in front of him and Nina had her rebuilt paladin in front of her.

Everyone smiled and was certainly proud of their builds. Some of the unbuilt or unused kits were put back to lower Noah's debt. Some were replaced with kits that would be needed for replacement parts and some, mainly Nina and Cecil, had the kits from their pile bagged up and ready to go back.

In truth Noah wished he could have brought everyone. He felt the whole group of the now formally made "three ships alliance" needed some R&amp;R but this had mainly been an excursion for him to see just what his people may prefer in terms of fighting style and for Nina to get a glimpse of where he was from.

Nicol had been brought along basically as Noah's second in command. Dearka had been offered a spot but had instead opted to stay behind.

Once all was said and done they all rode the in van back to Nils's labs where the simulator cockpits were. While it had been a fun day for the most part everyone fell asleep on the way, Nils and Noah in the front discussing the nearly ready to launch game version of the simulator.

Nils had managed to make a clone of the zero system but had removed the bits of coding he identified had caused the system to evolve and trap Noah in the seed universe originally. It still held its predictive capabilities but with tighter security protocols that would prevent any further fourth wall breaking.

Right now the Yamaji Corporation was beginning production of the simulator cockpits and setting up deals with various arcades and hobby shops to allow them the rights to have the cockpits in their stores or arcade venues.

When Noah had come back for the gunpla that would become the baker teams mobile suits for the battle of orb it had only been about a half hour in "reality" but in the time since then almost a month had passed. It seemed the time flux was so far unable to be accurately pinpointed in terms of the difference in the passage of time.

It did concern Noah that by the time the bloody valentine conflict ended who knew how much time would pass. While in truth it didn't entirely matter. He whole heartedly planned to basically "vacation" here but otherwise live in orb…unless of course Nina decided otherwise.

He already knew the coordinator wanted kids. And while that was hard enough for a coordinator to conceive naturally it was made even harder by him being a natural. Ultimately they likely would have to go the coordinator route, which was not possible here in reality.

Adoption was an option but he couldn't see Nina being over joyed at that prospect. She was artificially created by the zero system. She'd want an actual family of her own given her "memories" of her family were not only false but hazy at best.

Regardless when he did come here he feared he'd come back to some kind of sci-fi, cryogenically frozen into the future scenario where all his friends and fellow builders were all old, old men while he was still young and had a long life ahead of him.

When they pulled into the labs parking area Noah gently woke everyone. The group made their way back to the cockpits sleepily, Noah surprised such "advanced and superior beings" could be so sleepy after just a day of model building.

Eventually everyone was piled into the two cockpits and Luke was awake enough to run the program. Once on the other side the group made their ways to their assigned bunks, Noah though still wide awake so he helped Nina into bed before he went to explore the ship.

He was proud of Alice not only for such an amazing job building the ship but the fact she had been so proud of her "baby" she had somewhat taken control of ship operations, leaving Noah time to prepare for the upcoming battles.

He found her passed out in the hangar at one of the modeling benches, the framework for some new ship half built. Finding a blanket he covered her up and went to the other work bench, getting some supplies of his own he grabbed from reality out and started work on repairing his array of custom models.

_A whole new world_

**Lunar base shipyard, 8 hours since battle of orb**

Natarle looked over the information one more time as she sat on the bridge of her new command. Made a captain, she was appointed as the captain of the new vessel known as the dominion. The second ship of the archangel class she could only find it ironic as she looked over the ships specs. She remembered murrue telling her she'd be an amazing captain one day. Would she?

They already had their first assignment and the next day they would begin running combat training sims in a module developed around the known capabilities of the archangel and her mobile suit compliment.

Thanks to the battles at orb they had a good idea of the new blitz and busters capabilities so she was developing strategies to get around them. The three other mobile suits that were unknowns however she didn't bother with, knowing they were ground based mobile suits, amphibious in the blue monstrosity's case. They wouldn't be facing them in space.

Those three pilots…well two unless the pilot of the unidentified artillery suit survived his suits destruction. But those three would be an unknown variable in any fight they had.

Then there was the new ship that clearly was owned by celestial being if the GN drives were any indication. What secrets it held they would likely find out in their first engagement. Another unknown.

All this and throw in Noah's new beast and she was worried about how well they would fair in a fight.

And what about those mobile suits that randomly appeared amidst the battle? Would they make another appearance?

Finally the new captain threw the tablet…well as best she could in zero gravity. "Azreal you bastard…you're gonna get us all killed." She growled. She had looked over footage from the battle to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the new gat series prototypes. They were uncoordinated, undisciplined, and violent. They fired on the enemy, on friendly troops, hell they fired on each other.

The best one out of them all was the sword calamity. And he had disobeyed orders just to hunt down Noah! And to top it off long side them they had mostly green MS pilots in strike daggers and the new buster daggers, a customized variant of the strike dagger built based on the combat data from the buster.

Because also of the battle of orb they were having to take extra time to restock their supply of mobile suits. Given Noah's aggressive stance along with all of celestial being and the mystery mobile suits towards the daggers she assumed that was Noah's goal.

That gave Natarle some relief. It would give them time to rest and repair the archangel while her battle group was assembled. Originally they were going to just send the dominion after the archangel but after orb azreal was certain they`d need a full battle group.

It would be made up of eight frigates, 5 destroyers and three refit carriers, all of which aside from the frigates would have even a small MS compliment.

She was looking at nearly 150 mobile suits and 50 mobile armors all together. A massive force to be sure but she knew half of that was to try and tie up Noah.

She pushed herself out of her chair and began to trip down to her quarters. She was getting a headache trying to work all the potential strategies out.

_A whole new world_

**Mendel colony, 2 hours since Noah returned with the baker team**

Rozene had just come on duty and sat in what was deemed the captain's chair for the bridge on the purgatory. The crew was preparing the ship to head out and start creating a screen of GN particles to try and mask the hangars entrance from the enemy.

As she got reports from the bridge crew she glanced to her personal terminal to see the blitz jaeger returning from its patrol. Because of how many pilots the four ships had the patrols often overlapped so as Nicol came in she also watched on another camera as the justice returned and the freedom was launched.

Once the hangar doors closed with Nicol securely on board she heard they were ready to launch. "Let's take it slow people. Consider this our maiden voyage. I have approval from the other captains for us to use this as a chance to familiarize ourselves with the ships operations so we will be running a few drills. Bring the ship to level 2 battle stations and have the baker team, on standby." She commanded and within moments the orders were being given out.

She glanced back to her monitor and saw the freedom beside them, likely guiding them out before it broke off after they were clear of the hangar.

"Captain we've reached the designated distance from the hangar." Called out her helmsman.

"Good. See if you can bring us to a full stop and slowly increase our particle output. Weapons do we have anything in the way of depth charges?" she asked as she felt the ship slowly come to a halt.

The woman manning the weapons station turned to her captain. "We have a few ma'am though they are in missile form with a proximity setting." She stated.

"Good. I want you to plot out a good screen amongst the asteroids to seed with those. Any idea the life span of the missiles or the payload?" the captain asked.

"The payload is interchangeable via a system in the missile bay I guess but they are currently set to a heavy particle smoke screen designed for beam diffusion I guess. And life span as makeshift depth charges…I'm not certain." Stated the green haired girl.

Rozene nodded. "Good. Plot out that screen and prep the missiles. I don't want them sneaking up on us without a surprise of our own."

The weapons operator nodded and set to work prepping the requested screen.

"Is the baker team prepped?"

"Yes ma'am. Should I have them launch?" asked one of the CIC members.

"Yes. I want them to run some maneuvers in their machines, get adjusted to them. Weapons coordinate with Alfred for his "funnel defense". Communications have Valeria head out to the edge of the belt and see what her radars pick up." Ordered the blue haired coordinator.

"And what about Cecil ma'am?"

"Have him run time trials on his machine. Plot an obstacle course amongst the nearby asteroids that will have him going out as far as possible and then coming back to us. Add in simulated targets along his route."

With that her crew began to carry out her orders. So far everything was going smoothly. She hoped their first battle would go just as smooth.

_A whole new world_

Cecil grunted as he jinked to the right, dodging a shot from one of his simulated targets. They may only shot up on his radar and monitor in a video like format but to combine an actual moving time trial with this…well suffice to say he was smiling as he used his side skirt thrusters too boost past the fake strike dagger, aiming his gun and pulling the trigger at its back. In the program his left arm raised and his submachine gun opened up, all but a couple rounds out of a five round burst finding their target and causing the dagger to blow up.

So far his new machine was beating out every expectation. Turning from the remains of the dagger he boosted along his plotted route. Diving under an asteroid he flew close and used the slipstream effect to launch out from under it and right into a group of programmed daggers.

His first pass he caught one dagger on his axe and bisected it at the waist. Catching a beam saber on his shield he grimaced as the reinforced shield began to melt under the saber, slowly but still it wouldn't hold as well as he hoped.

Activating his sub arms he pulled his long rifle and the gusion hammer off his back, the long rifle targeting a dagger that tried to sneak up on him and nailed it in the cockpit.

The sub arm holding the hammer meanwhile brought it around and bashed the strike dagger away from him. As the dagger was pushed back it tried to go for its rifle but Cecil beam them to it, burying the massive axe in the enemy torso. Letting it go for now as he reached back and grabbed the gusion chopper.

Spinning to meet the final dagger he used his melted shield to bash away the pilots beam rifle and then activated the jets on the back of the chopper, bringing the massive blade down on the enemy's shield, through that and again burying it in his torso.

With the fact the weapons were currently simulated, his mobile suit technically going through the motions but not actually grabbing say weapons or firing said guns, he boosted off, knowing he needed to pick up the pace.

When he got back to the ship finally captain Rozene pinged him on his comms. Opening it he saw a displeased look on her face.

"Sorry captain. I need to make some modifications to the gundam I think." He stated as he sent over the footage the simulation captured.

"Speed wise you did fine getting between checkpoints. Your thrusters on the side skirts certainly helped make up for any distance between you and each checkpoint after a fight. Those fights however are my only concern. One on one you do fine, even against 2 opponents. But when you encounter an entire squad your machine can barely keep up." She stated.

"Yes ma'am and I am aware of that but those are the modification I need to make. If you look at the footage my shield can't block beams and my axes can only cut through an enemy if I have speed behind them. I need to somehow upgrade them to be heat weapons." He said as the hangar doors opened and he took that as his cue to come inside.

"Well make sure you make those upgrades quick. We used Noah's zero system for the data on those daggers so it should be spot on accurate. We need that gundam ready for when we get company." She stated.

Cecil nodded as he landed his mobile suit in the hangar. He certainly had some work to do.

_A whole new world_

Dearka took a sip from his canteen as he sat in his bunk, his flight suit open and tied around his waist as miriallia sat behind him on her knees, massaging his shoulders. She was only wearing her uniform coat and had gotten off her shift on the bridge just as he had returned from his patrol. To say they were in somewhat of a honeymooners phase of their budding relationship was an understatement.

But it was also understandable. After all with her on the bridge and him a mobile suit pilot both were in high risk positions. And they were both 16…what teenager is gonna pass up a chance to have another warm body in bed with them when they could die at any time in their next battle?

The natural brunette pressed herself to him and kissed his cheek, the blonde coordinator reaching up t to hold one of her hands. Even if Dearka had met her on one of his deployments in zaft, like any soldier did he used to check out the local girls, but even if he met her on some deployment to earth a relationship like there's would almost be considered taboo with where his parents were in the food chain.

She looked to the new model sitting in dearka's quarters. To cut down on launch times he left the buster panzer scanned and stowed in the hangar. Murdoch had his scanner so that post operations he can de-scan the buster and do what repairs he could or just de-scan it and re-scan it in so as to refresh its ammo.

On his desk though was the master grade model of the buster that Nicol built for him. Getting up the brunette grabbed the model, her bare rear swaying slightly knowing Dearka was obviously watching. Coming back she literally fell/plopped down on the bunk they basically shared and examined the model of dearka's former mobile suit.

"You ever miss the normal controls?" asked miriallia, leaning against him as she messed with the gunpla's arms.

Dearka shrugged. "Sometimes. The haptic controls are interesting but I need something better to control all those missiles." He said as he reached out to put a hand on her leg.

She brought one of the hands up and looked at it, the finger piece to make it a balled fist currently installed. "You know I've always wondered and never bothered to ask Kira. I`ve seen mobile suits pick up people and other things…since it wouldn't be scripted in the operating system to pick up every little object in the world…how do you do it?" she asked softly, admiring nicol's work.

Her fellow teen chuckled. "That's an odd question to ask. But I can see how it'd be something interesting to you." He said and watched her smile. "It's actually pretty cool and why some pilots can treat a mobile suit as an extension of themselves if they pilot it long enough." He said, sitting up and closing his eyes as he envisioned himself in the buster's cockpit. His hands came up and gripped invisible bars, the control sticks for the arm.

The natural girl watched as he separated each finger to sit on invisible buttons. "The arm rakes of a mobile suit cockpits have five buttons. One for each finger. You put pressure on each one to control each finger. In theory a mobile suit could be used in a super delicate manner. There was one time during my time at the academy I had a dream I took a GINN to someplace snowy, like Siberia or something and used the fact I could control the hands like that to make this giant snow man." he said listening to her giggle at his dream.

"That actually sounds like fun. Maybe when the war ends we could take the buster panzer and make some snowmen like that." She said to which he kissed her forehead.

"Maybe…first I'll have to put in for some time off with Noah." Joked the blonde coordinator to which she gave him a gentle nudge.

"Honestly if we are gonna make this work you have to try and not focus so much on work." She joked back before leaning against him again.

"I'll try to work on that." He said before he laid back and she rolled on top of him.

And once again that is left behind closed doors.

_A whole new world_

Noah was busy on his tablet, working on trying to sort out an operating system that would work for the buster panzer. His Gabriel gundam stood in the berth next to the formerly proto-type gundam while he was aboard the archangel.

The gunpla builder/genius growled as he ran a simulation and once again ran into the same issue of his latest attempt to separate the different missile types and launchers so Dearka didn't have to fire almost all of them at once. Still only the knees could be properly separated. Otherwise the missiles tracking software switched to heat seeking and ended up targeting friendlies by accident even if he previously had the enemy targeted.

This was mostly due to the justice and freedom's thrusters producing so much heat while giving them their speed they over rode the tracking.

Finally Noah resorted to trying to add in basically haptic haro's like in the dynames line of mobile suits.

One haro almost did it but the fact it was still tied into the same system overloaded the haro as it tried to process it all.

Two haro's and they didn't get overloaded but still they could barely handle the load.

Deciding three haro programs would crowd the cockpit he gave up. There was only one solution.

He needed help…

Closing the program and resetting the buster back to where Dearka had it he headed towards the ready room and then on into the ship. He had to find the Casanova coordinator.

**They were gonna take a little trip.**

_**A whole new world**_

**So I hope you guys enjoy that I'm posting like…2 updates and two chapters all at once. I also hope you're enjoying the story so far. Currently Alfred and Cecil's mobile suits have no names. Alfred's isn't super important but considering I may leave Cecil in his custom IBO machine I am putting out a contest for ideas for a name. **

**Also let me know what you think of my designs. I figured I'm making Alfred want a challenge. What's a better challenge then being brand new to remote weapons and yet you now have to control like…almost 100 funnels. **

**Concerning Dearka and miriallia. If I recall as I'm writing this the story is set as teen rated. So writing smut is out of the question at the moment. As previously stated I am not getting many reviews. So those of you wanting that door opened and some bed action written in I'm gonna wanna see a nice jump in reviews…though the ones only regarding the gundam name contest and with no other feedback will be disregarded. **

**Speaking of contest actually also gonna copy a page out of nemesis' book again and let you know I'm looking for help making a new OC for the side story I'm gonna start involving Dearka and Noah's trip to gundam 00. **

**My only requirements are: **

**I`m looking for a female**

**And sadly I'm looking for custom crossbone gundams for her machine…so not really looking for a custom machine to go with her unless it has the crossbone for a base. **

**And no this has nothing to do with the one girl in another one of the spin off. I recently build the MG ver. Ka crossbone and have been somewhat obsessed with the designed. Especially the cloak, not the full cloak, that fabric cloak. **

**Oh and it must be capable of having a GN drive for the power source though I'd prefer it not be another variation of the crossbone/exia fusion that I already have Alice assigned to.**

**Also these entries won't count towards the review count for the upgrade to m-rating.**

**As always please review, don't care if your gonna flame me, just say good job keep it up, whatever. **

**Hope you're enjoying the fic.**


	23. operation meteor 20

**I do apologize for the chapter you are about to read. It is not my best work. I just hope you all enjoy what I have planned thanks to it. Also, part of this is cannibalized from another previous chapter which I did not originally include.**

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Rozene gentry sat quietly in the conference room of the eternal along with Cecil, Nicol, Nina and Alice while looking over the specs of an unidentified series of machines. She had called a captain meeting to discuss a possible line of action involving some new friends the group recently made. A couple hours ago a group made up of 2 zaft Nazca class destroyers, a Laurasia class frigate, 3 nelson class frigates, and to round out the amazement of such a fleet, a refit Agamemnon class carrier.

Apparently, they had heard about Noah's offer from Alaska and after encountering one another the remaining captains of each battle group thought along the same lines and used it as a chance to mutiny and desert to join them. After a cease fire was negotiated they protected each other to run minor repairs before coming to them. Now they were hiding in the asteroid belt while they finished repairs and took stock of their ships.

Noah had made it clear before he left that in such an instance no one else was to be recruited into celestial being. He didn't want a navy. After the war, he may try to build them to the organization they were wherever he was going but he didn't want a full-blown army, stating that they would be strong enough to do what was needed by the end of the war…then mumbled something about Kira and the freedom.

She had other plans.

Finally, the rest of the leadership of their little group arrived. Mu and murrue took a spot to the right of her own group with mu standing while murrue looked to watch lacus and Kira enter with Andrew and the eternal's team. Athrun was currently resting before a patrol or else he likely would be here as well.

Finally, cagalli entered with kisaka. no one seemed to have any idea what this meeting was about. After all the three other ship captains were unsure whether to trust the group or not.

Rozene stood once everyone settled and cleared her throat. "you may all be wondering why I requested this meeting. Well I have a small agenda to follow and it starts with bringing up the fact Noah Carson and now dearka elsman have ultimately left us a large gap in our strength. "stated rozene to which everyone raised an eyebrow.

"what do you mean? We still have plenty of mobile suits and pilots. Plus, Noah's friends should be up for filling in that gap if we come under attack." Stated mu as he tried to think of what she was trying to say.

Rozene nodded. "this is true…if it were just us and Noah hadn't shown his hand at orb. By now zaft's spies will have received footage of orbs fall meaning they know as much about us and Noah as the earth alliance. Think…Noah decimated their forces in standard mobile suits and then on top of that trashed all four of their prototypes. And then we have to think of his…what did he call it Nina?" asked rozene as she turned to the snow haired coordinator.

"quantification. Essentially his body and mobile suit had already broken down to a particle level and he was already moving by the time his cockpit was speared by his opponent's sword. I guess he is evolving somehow, a side effect of being exposed to "pure GN particles" for so long already. He's becoming an innovator, essentially a natural who has evolved…naturally into a coordinator but with a different set of advantages. He didn't exactly go into detail."

Everyone seemed amazed by her description. That was…was it possible? Well then again this was Noah. He was in a whole 'nother league in terms of weird.

"ok so he is…evolving. I still don't entirely get what this has to do with him and dearka leaving." Stated mu as he for one had had plans made BEFORE his patrol….

"what I'm saying is we need to buy time. Even if Noah has some sort of time jump thing that can have him back here in minutes we don't know where our enemies are or what they may be up to. Our current defenses may work for a standard battle group and a small staging area…but what do you think they are gonna bring to combat Noah and everything him and his friends showed them at orb?" she asked as she looked to the three other captains.

Almost everyone instantly felt their hearts drop into their stomach. Noah, his friends, and their own forces combined with orbs defenses had nearly forced the earth forces back. Only a carrier or two plus a few ships limped home considering how lethal Cecil had been in the hy-gogg. So, what WOULD they bring?

The blue haired women nodded. "exactly. I wanted your approval before pitching this to them but I have already contacted Noah's friends. All of them are world class builders like him and so I requested a series of machines to be built through contact made by Luke. I want to reach out to the group hiding in the asteroid belt and see if they would be willing to accept a contract of sorts. Cagalli if there is a colony they might be able to hide at I'm hoping to recruit their pilots to form three groups that will be sent on an ongoing mission. The task will be simple. Disrupt military operations. Assault enemy bases, intercept convoys…" rozene was about to continue when Alice began to giggle.

The coordinator captain raised an eyebrow and glanced to her.

"so…you want them to do what the gundam meisters did in gundam 00? You want them to do what celestial being does?" asked Alice as she tried to stop laughing.

"that…that's what they do? They don't try to stop war?" asked rozene, her tone indicating she felt like she had been lied to.

Alice shook her head. "no no they do. But they are basically flies…well…no they…well…I don't know how to explain it but they perform armed interventions. There isn't an actual conflict going on. Instead they intervene and put out small fires by basically showing up and saying, "play nice or we will shoot our super advanced guns." If they aren't doing that usually they were doing exactly what you said. Eventually the world got fed up with them, banded together and said screw you." Stated Alice though it was obviously a very VERY vague explanation of celestial being's true purpose in gundam 00.

Captain rozene blinked. "I see…well…in that case that is exactly my plan. But I don't intend to send the zaft pilots after the earth forces or vice versa. No…instead of fueling the fire I intend to send them after their own factions. They will have complete autonomy, pick and choose their missions and targets. There is one small twist though…" she stated and turned to face cagalli and kisaka.

"I plan to have three teams if you recall. One to go after the earth forces and another to hit zaft. Neither will have extremely advanced machines but I will be ignoring Noah's rules aside from not giving them gundams or even proto gundams. This way we have eyes on the ground and in space and just watching our enemies in general. Plus, it has the added benefit of stalling them hopefully and buying us time to wait for Noah and dearka to return. "

Cagalli rose and eyebrow at the blue haired woman. "so…why are you looking at us?" she asked

"simple. The third team will consist of elite pilots, 5 to be exact, each piloting an enhanced astray machine. From what I understand orb was building a series of different colored "frames" as their own version of the GAT series though they lacked phase shift armor. Am I correct?" she asked as she brought up her tablet to show the series of machines she had been going over. It was the astray frames developed at Heliopolis.

Cagalli shot to her feet. "WHAT!? Kisaka is this true?" she shouted at her aid. Closing his eyes, he nodded.

"we were developing them with the intent of fielding them in defense AGAINST the gat series should we need to. They were lost when Heliopolis was destroyed though we have heard rumors of various groups finding them and fielding them instead. But how did you know…" the colonel was about to ask where she got the information but then remembered her access to the zero system.

Rozene smirked and turned back around. "of course I will have them sending in reports for any operations they carry out so we can at least keep tabs on them. But otherwise they will not be connected to us aside from the...uniqueness of their mobile suits." She stated before looking to each of the captains.

"so…do I have your approval or should I inform the other captains of Noah's wishes to not form a navy?" she asked

Andrew chuckled. "makes about as much sense as any of this to me. I say go for it. If it draws heat off us I'm all for it." He stated,

Murrue sighed and simply nodded.

Cagalli sat in her chair and groaned. "what do you need our permission for? They are joining celestial being." Pointed out the fiery princess.

"that is correct…but I do need to make a request of orb. If they tail behind your next supply ship can you, please find a haven within the harbors of whatever colony we are getting our supplies from for the ships? I realize the carrier may be much but still it would be a big help." Said rozene as she realized the carrier would be the largest issue.

"what!? You want me to provide asylum for them? AND THE SHIPS! Are you insane? That carrier alone will easily have us tracked in no time." Exclaimed cagalli but kisaka put his hand on her shoulder.

The seasoned fighter turned to rozene, "you won't be taking all the pilots, right? That carrier alone will have plenty. Could we not assign them to the defense forces for the supply route and the colony?" asked kisaka.

The blue haired woman nodded. "of course. And the three teams aren't going to launch on their missions till they reach the colony. It will ensure the ships get there intact and everyone is safe."

Cagalli sighed. "if that's the case then I supposed we can find a way to make room, perhaps even repair or modify the ships so that we can use them to defend the colony in the future." Stated the blonde princess.

"exactly...so then you agree?" asked rozene.

Cagalli nodded.

"good. Then in that case everything is covered. I`ll contact you all with the team rosters and mobile suits specs once the teams are formed." Stated rozene before everyone agreed and left.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Athrun looked around the hangar as he floated through the door of the ready room. He was up next for patrol duty along with one of the astray pilots.

The eternals hangar was busy as could be, the small team of engineers loyal to lacus scurrying to get the ship ready for battle. Looking to his justice though he saw cagalli floating in front of the door with something in her hands. She had come over to the eternal earlier to speak with waltfeld about adding her to the reserve mobile suit pilot roster.

He chuckled as he heard her growl and visibly stop herself from throwing whatever it was. Getting closer he saw it was a plastic model of his old aegis. But where did she get that?

Stopping himself on the catwalk he smiled. "having trouble with that?" he asked and she jumped, the blue/purple haired coordinator catching the model and looking it over. It was easy to see she had been trying to transform it. "who built this?" he asked

"Nicol just brought it over. Said he made a model of every one of the GAT series and was giving them to the pilots. Even built a duel for your friend yzak." Said cagalli as she blushed, watching Athrun quickly pick up on the parts that had to shift and move, soon having it go from mobile suit mode to its mobile armor mode.

He smiled. It would be Nicol who would do this. All five machines were basically destroyed, with the hardly fixed buster sitting in the purgatory's hangar and the blitz standing guard in the archangels.

As much as the model reminded him all too well of that horrible day he also enjoyed the nostalgia, knowing just why Nicol did this. "did he bring a strike over for Kira?" he asked as he handed her the model.

She nodded. "yeah, brought it over with a box containing all the striker packs. Said he left a skygrasper on the kusinagi for me." Said the fiery princes as she looked at the model.

Athrun noticed a tear in her eye and wiped it away. "hey what's wrong?" he asked as she looked away.

"nothing…I just…got something in my eye." She said as she pushed off. "I'll go put this in your quarters for you. Better get going." She said though he could hear the sorrow in her voice.

It made his heart ache as he tried to figure out what was making her sad. Climbing into the cockpit of the justice he buckled in and took one more moment to ponder why he felt so horrible seeing her cry. It was then he noticed he had his own eyes beginning to water and wiped them away.

He had just been engaged to lacus though they agreed mutually they were just friends and with his father the way he was and her father dead the engagement was off. But cagalli was also the twin sister to his best friend. What if the relationship went south? Would he be able to face Kira after breaking her heart?

Starting the nuclear-powered machine, he watched as the cockpit came to life. With the war where it was at he needed to decide. He couldn't leave these feelings and push them aside when either of them could die tomorrow in a fight and never know if she felt the same way.

Heading to the launch gate he sealed his helmet and steeled himself. He needed to focus right now or else set a bad example for keeping one's emotions in check while piloting for the astray pilot.

As he got the green light to launch he stated what he needed to for the mission recorder. "Athrun zala, justice, launching!" and with that he took off.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Cagalli meanwhile was silently sobbing in athruns room, his aegis model floating in front of her. She couldn't tell if she was mad, sad, happy…her body was a whirlwind of emotions. She was happy Athrun was not only safe but no longer fighting Kira. She was happy Kira was her brother! But Athrun was still piloting a mobile suit and without one of her own or even some kinda mobile armor jet thing to help him she was sad and scared and worried she'd watch him die.

And she was mad he couldn't see this! He was just a boy…a stupid boy who was engaged to lacus…or was he? It didn't matter he probably loved her anyways. How could the blonde princess compete with a brilliant, beautiful, talented songstress like lacus?

She looked to the aegis and remember that night where he held her captive. He was so nice…so kind. Nothing like what everyone made coordinators out to be. A gentleman even when she had to strip down so her clothes would dry. She smiled as she sniffled, remembering him blush and turn away when she had stood up during her rant and the blanket from his emergency kit fell off and revealed her body only covered by undergarments.

She wondered if he had been rescued but she wasn't would he have protected her? Would he have defended her from being tortured and killed for information on the archangel? On the desert dawn?

Like mirallia when he apologized she hated how kind he was. He was like her brother, kind, nice, sweet. He meant as much to her as Kira did and more. But…she didn't know how to say it.

Finding herself suddenly tired and sleepy she closed her eyes, nodding off as she tried to stop her heart from aching over a boy she felt was a bit out of her league. She was a fiery, tomboy princess…how could such a boy ever pick her over someone like lacus?

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Lacus and Kira however were having no such difficulties. From the moment they met Kira felt a connection and as they sat in the eternals officer lounge, staring out into space he held her hand while they discussed the philosophical aspects of this war once more.

Lacus had just brought up the fact that Noah had such a different outlook on the war then the two super powers currently trying to kill each other.

"that's true. But he also knows how all this end. He has an outside view and has seen inside both camps. With that kind of knowledge how can he not have a different outlook?" asked Kira.

The songstress brought a finger up to her chin in thought. "I think it's because he knows what is going to happen, because he knows how each camp thinks it gives him a better perspective on this war. Plus, with knowledge of all these other universes and his own world he has a different view on war itself." She said as she scooted closer to the perfect coordinator.

Kira nodded. "but how he pulls the similarities between our world and those others…it seems like has his own agenda sometimes. Like he wants to try and mimic the events in other battles in other worlds."

"you mean when he spoke about how the hatred between naturals and coordinators would only truly end when both sides fight a battle with such a high body count that it leaves a sour taste for war in even the most blood thirsty minds?" asked lacus. It amazed Kira how perceptive she was and as she moved closer he pulled her under his arm as she leaned against him.

He remembered that conversation and how he mentioned it as often as he could. Which gundam series had such a massacre of a battle it left humanity driving towards peace even in places where war was considered normal?

"do you think maybe it was the universe celestial being comes from? If there was even an organization against war it had to be horrible." Suggested the pink haired coordinator.

Kira shook his head. "no from everything we've heard what ended the war there was actually the realization that corruption had worked its way into every level of government and the right people stepped up to fight it. Once celestial being was recognized as "the good guys" the world seemed to focus on making peace and fixing the damage that corruption had done instead of fighting the world celestial being was trying to make. So, the battle wasn't horrific there." Said Kira as he recalled listening to Luke and Alice discuss the differences between Noah's celestial being and the original.

Lacus closed her eyes and seemed to snuggle up to Kira. "well hopefully he wasn't lying and it was ours he was speaking off." She said with a cute yawn.

Kira smiled as she seemed ready to fall asleep against him. "no…the way he said the camps would pull out their big guns my bet is this war is ended with azreal and zala revealing just how far they will go and convincing the world weapons like what they made are not needed." He said quietly, hearing her breathing as she fell asleep. It made him happy to know just how comfortable she was with him.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Luke sat in the cockpit of the strike. He had taken a shuttle over to the archangel and had decided to take up piloting the mobile suit. While it wasn't a simulation cockpit and the chance of him dying was real he felt he needed to do his part. He wasn't a strong builder…but he was a fighter.

Murdoch floated up and looked inside, seeing Luke familiarizing himself with the manual. "you know this machine is outdated technically right? You're better off using one of those models even if it's one of the strike." Said the grizzly mechanic.

Luke shrugged. "there is one striker pack I wanna see if we can hook up to the strike that is only available in a model kit…or no…it just isn't available till gundam seed destiny…or…I don't know. Anyways the concept of it is simple. It was designed with mu in mind and is basically his mobeius zero turned into a striker pack." Said Luke as the gunbarrel striker was his favorite pack.

Murdoch rubbed his chin. "that might work. Does it have the standard docking set up?"

Luke nodded. "yeah. I actually might make custom versions of all the packs. But I want to use the actual strike gundam. I just want to protect mayu. I rescued her so she's my responsibility." Stated Luke.

The mechanic chuckled. "that kids a fighter that's for sure. I hear she's almost healed enough to get transferred to the purgatory for that regeneration treatment."

"yeah. I hope it goes well. If we can get her healed maybe we can change some things in the next series for the better." Said Luke as he climbed out of the cockpit. "better go get started…" he said, pushing off to go take the shuttle back to the purgatory.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Murrue was at the bridge overseeing the new orb staff members getting used to the bridge. With sai leaving before Alaska and kuzzey gone after they went back to orb mirallia was the only one left of the tech students. She had originally had a picture of Tolle at her station but she recently took it down, the brunette captain guessing her recent time with dearka was helping get over the loss of her longtime boyfriend.

Speaking of new romances, she had noticed almost everyone was finding a partner. Even herself, mu was always finding ways to surprise her. From getting a model of the archangel from Noah and building it for her to bringing her coffee from the eternal and storing it in her office for her own personal use. She understood it was basically his best way of spoiling her but still she felt it was a bit…childish. What she wanted from him was more of some kind of date. Something special.

Still the model looked nice in her quarters and the coffee was far better than the military crap they had.

Reaching up though she pulled a special locket out from under her uniform. It was something the listed family members and loved ones of a mobile armor pilot received when they died. A coffin on a chain with the picture of their loved one. It was why she told him she didn't date mobile armor pilots. Her previous romance didn't end well and hurt her in ways she didn't know were possible.

The last thing she wanted to do was get attached to the hawk of endymion and then watch him die in battle. She couldn't experience that loss again.

Looking back to her new crew she saw they were getting more and more comfortable as mirallia and Neuman helped them adjust to their new positions. Valeria was out acting as an extension of all four ships radars currently and a ship wide alert was set to go off if she detected anything.

It had gone off once but it was a false alarm when they learned cagalli had set up supply ships to come from a nearby orb controlled colony. A second time from when

Mirallia seemed more determined than ever after dearka left to keep the ship in top shape. She had originally taken over the whole CIC switching stations to keep an eye on the various aspects of the ship. But as the orb crew got used to their stations she slowly switched back to just monitoring the mobile suits. She even had the buster transferred back though murrue felt that was likely as a way to feel like she still had dearka around.

The older woman could understand young love and especially the odd feeling of being in separate universes, not knowing the dangers your love is facing. It was the same for long distance relationships. It had been the same when they first launched in Alaska. She had been worried the sub carrying mu would be attacked.

Instead he ended up coming back to her and now they had a chance to maybe give this a go.

Sitting back in her chair she fiddled with the locket in her fingers, thinking about the man she once loved and the man she now desired and loved.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

As sei, tatsuya and Nils followed the earth alliance officer through the ship the three men couldn't help but just gawk at everything. They were on an Agamemnon class carrier! The three of them each had a backpack. Each of them was somewhat contracted to design the models that would become the three teams currently waiting in the hangar new machines.

As the pilot and builder of the sengoku astray, recently upgraded and renamed the "Ronin astray" he oversaw the enhanced astray team. He also planned to lead them, having decided to take a sabbatical in order to stay in the cosmic era. He of course had a specially designed watch that was tuned with a unique "cradle" as none of these models would keep their haptic cockpits. Once they reached the orb colony they would be replacing them all with special cockpits for the astray models, customized GINN cockpits for the Zeon team, and customized dagger cockpits for the earth team.

This cradle allowed him to be technically tethered to it at all times via the watch. So, if he were to participate in ground combat and take a hit he would instantly be transported back. No one really understood how it worked, Noah might of as it was based on his simulator but the rest of them simply knew it meant he wasn't in any danger taking on this position.

The meijin however was wanting to climb into one of the simulator cockpits and join the fight that way. He wasn't going to fool himself into thinking he will be as strong in a standard cockpit as he was in the gunpla arena.

Being the builder and pilot of the amazing series of machines which were primarily U.C. oriented and the most well-known were his zaku amazing and kampfer amazing he oversaw the Zeon team's machines. He had also designed a support unit based on a ball to help them in between missions.

Lastly with sei's success with the build strike and just his overall knowledge of gundam he was put in charge of the earth team's mobile suits. To say he was excited to be here…well…when they originally exited the blitz jaegers simulator cockpit and he got to see the "real" build strike full package standing next to the strike…well he nearly fainted.

But now that they were all on the carrier they all had their game faces on.

When they came to the hangar they saw the pilots lined up in their teams, their flight suits giving away what they were meant to pilot.

The zaft pilots were a mix of 2 greens and 3 red ace pilots.

The ranks of the earth forces pilots were too small to identify from distance but again it was five pilots.

Lastly the "orb" team was quite identifiable. The two earth federation pilots were sitting on containers playing cards, beers floating by their heads while the two zaft pilots were both wearing their red flight suits and chatting.

A whistle was blown and all the pilots instantly went to attention, the two ace earth pilots not even caring as their drinks "spilled" in the zero G.

Captain rozene floated past the three "real" men and caught them by surprise, all three forgetting she was with them.

"hello everyone. I assume you all know why you're here. You are the best of the best out of all the pilots in this mixed-up group. You all are dedicated to ending this war without genocide correct?" she asked as she looked amongst the pilots.

A resounding yes ma'am filled the hangar. Good everyone was on the same page.

"now to avoid stirring the pot more or even potentially creating tension amongst the teams we will not be sending you against your former enemies. We also won't be mixing the teams. Instead to increase survivability we will be utilizing your knowledge of your own sides tactics and your familiarity with their bases, their systems, things like that to maximize your mission success.' Stated rozene.

One of the coordinator pilots raised his hand and she nodded to him. "what about the fact we have ginns and a single guaiz on our team? Zaft is slowly cycling out the GINN, you know that puts us at a disadvantage. Not to mention the other teams. No offense but I mean their machines can only beat a GINN because they have beam technology. How are they gonna fare against their own people in a straight up fight?" asked one of the red zaft pilots which got a few glares from the naturals around him.

Rozene chuckled. "that is why all three teams will be utilizing a unique technology that will allow you to use mobile suits that the cosmic era has never seen. Each teams line of machines was developed by a specialist in this field of technology." Stated the coordinator captain as she tried not to over simplify that the three grown men had spent god knows how long building 5 plastic models to make up each team's mobile suits and some complicated technology would essentially bring the models to life.

Clearing her throat, she motioned to sei who seemed nervous somewhat. "this is sei Lori. He designed the machine that the hawk of endymion uses now. He has designed a series of machines fitting your profiles, combat scores in training and your recent records as MS pilots. He will be explaining each machine for the team going after the earth alliance."

Then she motioned to Nils. "this is Nils nielson. He will be leading as well as the tech expert for the orb based team which will be hitting both sides and acting as a proxy for celestial being. He specializes in a line of machines orb developed known as the "astray frame". From what I have seen we can certainly expect to draw everyone's attention with those machines." She stated before finally motioning to the meijin.

"this is meijin kawaguchi the third. He has designed the machines for our zaft pilots. If you may recall from any footage of the battle of orb there were a pair of MS fighting in the city which had zaft characteristics. That was his kampfer amazing and Noah's gouf elite. So, I expect you all to appreciate the mobile suits he has designed as they are worlds above even the guaiz you piloted Dylan." She stated with a smirk as a zaft red seemed to shrink at her comment.

As she continued to explain the plan to the teams the three gunpla builders set up tables to display the models that the pilots would soon be utilizing in exchange for their normal machines. They were all quite proud of the work they did in a matter of days their time.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

The meijin was proud of his work. For how quickly rozene had asked for these models he had built quite quality machines for these fighters…and something in case he had to take over.

On the table sat the five machines.

The team leader had the most unique machine out of them all. Based on the gyan concept originated by susumu sazaki's gyan Vulcan, it had a pair of katanas at its left waist. Meant for extreme speed and close combat this machine had a pair of extended thruster pods at the rear waist which sat on ball joints for bursts of speed in any direction.

On the outside of each pod sat three unique beam rapier handles, six in total. They were unique in the sense the hand guard could be detached and turn them into throwing blades.

Now mounted on remote arms and usually sitting over the plated samurai like shoulder guards were a pair of the missile shields. The shields held a massive number of missiles along with the usual hide bombs. Lastly they also count act as remote weapons as each shield had a small charge in it for a funnel built into it.

All in all, the machine had Noah's celestial being's red and black paint job.

The next in the lineup was the sniper.

A simple zaku one sniper, the kirks custom variant. Practically a straight build it did have a couple customizations. For one the rifle was basically the same as the one Noah originally used with his GM commando. And since the gun was a ballistic weapon and not a beam one he had removed the massive power transfer unit off it's back and instead replaced it with the gundam ground types container pack. This allowed him to make customizations to some of the later suits.

The container held spare ammo, camping equipment, the usual essentials.

The third suit that tatsuya had made was the heavy hitter. The unit's tank. The one they would be using to hit zaft for all it was worth.

An amazing model. One of his best. A dom, extra armor all over, reactive plates, the whole nine. In each arm was a hand built, each piece from the ammo in the belts to every inch of the 6 barrels in a pair of handmade chain guns was well...hand made. After seeing Noah's handiwork on the GM commando, he had taken most of his time building this model.

On its back was a massive cannon. Howitzer level. And the handmade ammunition…oh man. If the quality Noah made his ammunition too turned his sniper rifle into an anti-material rifle, then this stuff was bunker buster power level.

The cannon had a square base with crossing beams that supported exterior armor plating, acting like reactive armor should someone shoot for the cannon. On top facing away from the back of the dom was a large sliding door, the…well the slide for the cannon. When fired, it opened and the massive shell casing would come out while one could watch the next round be lifted from the backpack and loaded into the barrel.

On its legs, to counter all the extra weight, the original dust vents had been turned into jet engines belonging on a transport plane. And for when it fired it had a pair of spikes that would stabilize it.

The meijin had debated adding missiles on it by kit bashing in a super custom zaku from the series gunpla builders beginning g.

Instead he decided to split up the missiles amongst the other suits.

a leader, sniper, and a heavy…that means scout and support were left

next up was the support unit.

A custom marasai. The head had its fin removed and canisters were added to make it look like it had a gas mask on. Over its shoulders sat four small launchers designed to fire chaff grenades, smoke grenades, whatever was needed by the mission. It also sported plenty of extra armor covering it.

On its left arm sat a zaku spiked arm shield. The exterior was covered in reactive armor. The spikes were reinforced by being made from a melted wing series model so they were as good as a beam saber in close combat due to being made of gundanium…no one tell Noah.

For close combat, it had a long staff handled "battle heat axe". Double sided and with heat coils connecting the center of the axes to the main staff it was certainly a force to be reckoned with once it's pilot would get a hold of it as his training score showed higher reaction times and excelling in close combat.

To round it out as a support unit the machine had four sturm faust mounted on a second shield on its back. Also, hanging at its rear waist were three "ANTI-MS" mines designed to be grabbed and tossed after being activated by a button in the handle.

Finalizing its arsenal was an MMP-80 machine gun as well as two racks of spare ammo hidden under the zaku spike shield. This machine had been designed to get between the team and whatever might be chasing it and tell it to screw off or just to put a wall of smoke, chaff, bullets, whatever they needed.

To finish off the team they had the scout.

Another basic build, a straight build aside from being painted in the red and black instead of blue and black. A zee Zulu. While this was one of the machines that would need swapped for space missions it was perfect for scouting and recon.

Designed based on the U.S. navy seals, his machine was prepared for everything. In this case, it had enhanced limbs for more nimble movement, quickly jumping into action out of rolls, diving out of the way of danger.

The arsenal was no different. Six heat nails and the two heat daggers which would make it look like it was designed to have claws. A waterproof case holding a beam machine gun with a grenade launcher under barrel.

The pilot in question had a military jacket screaming to turn this suit into a horror for anyone on the other end of it.

And that was the team that would be facing zaft.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Sei's five models were far more…creative…no that wasn't the word. For a builder like sei who always wanted to bring the most out of his machines he had stuck to that as best he could. To say he wished he could have made a new series of gundams would have been more appropriate. No matter what the earth forces wouldn't know what hit them no matter the case.

First, the leader:

A somewhat bland machine, the versatility of it was what made sei choose it for the leader's personal suit. a GM(g), it had an enhanced optical sensor and a secondary targeting sensor in a crest on its head aiming forward.

Extra armor covered the machine. From a small plate on the shoulder, bolts included for a realistic look and better performance by gunpla standards, to an extra wrist guard that covered the gap between the forearms and the back of the hands. It also had 6 small grenade tubes mounted onto the two vents on the chest, like the zaft teams support they could fire whatever was needed at the time.

Currently posed in a one knee position like it was scoping out a firing position it held its primary armament by the barrel as it leaned on its shoulder. it was a 180mm cannon with camouflage netting wrapped around the end of the barrel. Being a GM(g) it had a beam saber in each leg of course and like the meijins zaku sniper it had its container, camouflage netting rolled up over the top to be used for making camp along with any supplies they might need to be stored in the container. Both the meijin and sei were trying to make their teams as autonomous as possible. As an added precaution and just in case it is needed chains hung below the backpack which could be removed and used for various purposes.

Sniper:

A GM sniper 2 custom unit, this suit was decked out similarly to Noah's GM commando with spare armor covering it to look similarly to an assault vest with ammo pouches and even a couple cylinders which were clearly grenades hanging from it.

The machine was reinforced from head to toe. The "scope" visor was enhanced so that the range of the machines sights could reach well over 5 kilometers though whether the pilot could hit that far was up to his or her skill.

The rifle itself was a marvel of hand crafted engineering. Unlike Noah's which was a custom version of the rifle made by the company kotobukiya, sei had made every centimeter of this rifle by hand. With an ammo rack on the left arm which held five specially made rounds meant to take down heavy targets, the standard ammunition of this rifle was large for sure but nowhere near Noah's train engine sized rounds.

With a 5-round magazine, pre-loaded in to the rifle, yes sei had fun making sure the slide and ejection port actually worked. (please for the sake of my own humor imagine a grown man going "pow" and racking back the bolt of a rifle the size of his index finger, watching a round pop out and fall to the table before pushing the bolt forward and listening to hear the plastic slide into place…and making the appropriate sound effects.)

He had provided four spare magazines of ammunition, all of them hand loaded and crafted.

Once the engagements got too close for the rifle to work two kotobukiya pistols sat at its hips ready to go and a large bowie knife sat along the back of its waist as well as two beam sabers.

Heavy:

Sei may have gone just…. a tiny bit overboard on this one. After seeing the buster panzer sei felt he should try to make something for these teams with just as much firepower. Did he succeed? Well…let's see how this custom stark jegan sounds.

To start things off this machine had all its basic armaments. So, it already had 6 missiles stated to be capable of destroying a starship…kinda overboard since most of the team's missions would be ground based but hey…keep reading. It also had the hyper bazooka which fired 380MM rounds which were devastatingly effective at destroying whatever their target was. Then there was the grenade rack at its waist which could also be fired as RPG's straight from the hip.

Now we tack on two more three round missile racks on either leg. The rack on the shoulders also mounted two smaller but longer missiles on each end as well as a small chubby missile of unknown strength, perhaps a torpedo by the design.

So maybe not as much as the buster panzer but still…for ground missions it certainly was a lot of firepower. The thrusters were also enhanced to keep up with all the extra weight. And for a CIWS it had the mounted Vulcan weapons system from a gundam MK 2.

Support:

"A demolitions expert with a preference for fisticuffs." These words had rang out to sei when he read one of the earth forces pilots jackets.

With that in mind he made this rather unique support unit. A GM ground type, it had the usual flash launcher and chest mounted Vulcan system. But it also had a backpack which mounted a 180mm cannon which could fold down to be an over the shoulder cannon as well as a missile launcher which held three 2 tube missile pods holding wire guided missiles.

This gave the pilot very precise control of where her explosives would go. Yes, this was one fiery female. Who also enjoyed boxing and generally classic fisticuff style sports. So, each hand held a power fist style weapon made by kotobukiya. These weapons were basically giant fists which could extend in a pile driver fashion to add power behind the blow but otherwise already just dealt a much heavier strike with each punch. These fists could be swapped out with claw like spikes.

Aside from those armaments this machine truly relied on the CQB abilities of its pilot to survive and only time would tell if it was a good idea to build it as such.

Scout:

Due to being unable to create a gundam for this team sei had opted to leave the GM line up and the earth alliances E.F.F. predecessors and instead turned to celestial being and their foes for a machine that could dominate the field while not being overly power.

Modified to fit the cosmic era this straight built "aerial camouflaged" over flag, this blue and white machine was painted to fit into the sky and can spy on the enemy from above. Given no E.A. suit could fly for an unlimited amount of time sei felt this would give the team an edge so long as the suit could utilize its paint job to fly under the radar while also hiding from any enemy forces or defenses.

A straight build otherwise the overflag had its standard arsenal: new type 200mm linear gun in its left hand or as the nose of its flight form, a 20mm Vulcan situated by the cockpit for shooting down missiles or small vehicles or annoying the enemy.

Its sonic blade was replaced with an armor Schneider dagger from a strike gundam. The defense rod was removed entirely and instead a solid pla-plate added as a small shield to still give the suit some defense. Lastly it's shins as usual hide compartments for a variety of missiles depending on the situation.

While sei admired his work, he couldn't help but also wonder if perhaps he should be joining them similarly to Nils was. China would understand. Besides with Noah's tech a few months here would be a couple days back home…

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Lastly Nils was polishing one of his small plastic swords from his murasame astray. Unlike the meijin and sei he did not have the restrictions of not being able to use gundams. On the contrary while he was limited to the "astray" line he could use the "proto-gundam" level machines known as the red, green, blue, and gold frames

Still this also didn't mean he could go crazy with what he built. To start off there was his new "astray Ronin".

From the waist, down it wasn't much different than a normal astray though it held a blood red and black paint scheme with gold trim. The feet were still shaped like geta as the machine did still hold its katana wielding style.

Due to the lack of plavsky particles this astray focused solely on sword combat, still no ranged weapons to speak of though the 4 katanas on its back which were arranged in a fan motion with the handles at various degrees behind the right shoulder.

From the waist up it was quite similar to his world series level gunpla. The paint scheme of the legs continued up obviously and the sengoku yoroi on the shoulders was still there. The head was slightly redesigned, namely the new feather like crest on the back of its head similar to the tallgeese two. Otherwise still it had the larger V-fin but the "mouth" piece was detailed slightly deeper and now resembled that of a samurai's mask even more.

The shoulder arms of the sengoku yoroi now acted more on the level of funnels, like china's wing set up for wing zero they had different settings for various conditions from defense to offense to simply "flowing" where a small subroutine similar to that of the actual zero system read what Nils was doing and the arms would react to block, attack, parry, riposte, whatever seemed appropriate to the computer systems to help the gunpla battler.

Another upgrade to it were two more of the samurai sword handles which sat bladeless on his shoulders. These were new "beam katanas" exactly as they sounded though the beam was more solid, like a red blade instead of just a red beam in the shape of a katana.

Lastly rounding out the many blades it now held the gundam used a folding blade from an astaroth model. This was meant to be its anti-ship blade for space operations though it held it currently against the ground like a staff.

All in all, the machine had a new fighting style and Nils was eager to try it out against whoever these missions threw his team at.

Red astray:

Due to Nils being so heavily covered in swords he decided to make the red astray a bit more of a sniper. With some parts from a freedom gundam it had a pair of thruster pods on its back akin to that of the tallgeese. These pods were also just as maneuverable and could give the pilot a burst of speed in a heartbeat.

For weapons the pilot in question was a simple fighter. In and out, quick and clean. A pair of beam sabers on the back-skirt armor and a variable output beam rifle which would fire anywhere from a light, quick rapid fire beam to something more along the lines of a heavy beam cannon. It also had a scope so it could fire long range if needed.

Other than that, it was painted in a red and white paint scheme.

Green astray:

So, this one was a prime example of him not going nuts on customizing.

A simple straight build in terms of the main body. The green was more of a flat lime green with yellow accents. The main customizations were in the weapons. Mounted on the forearms were a pair of folding combat knives. When needed, they swung out to rest along the end of the forearm and the back of the hand extending out enough to easily pierce a mobile suit and not affect the hand. At its hips a pair of beam hand guns were holstered.

The biggest customization was the square-ish thruster pack with racks to hold a pair of wing like blades which were a play on the strike noirs pack. Capable of being held over the shoulders the dull side of the blade would open to allow for the linear guns inside to be used. These blades could also be drawn and used as physical anti-ship blades

Lastly parts of a strike e were incorporated to allow both hands to have a rocket ancho in its palm. Not much more than a coin purse sized weight the anchor could easily allow the pilot to grab and throw an opponent or it could burrow into an asteroid or wrap around a tree to help with maneuvering.

Blue astray:

This astray was the most outrageous custom of the group. Due to how customizable the astray's were along with the intended pilots love for guns Nils decided to go a bit crazy with this one.

To start this off the unit is basically a basic blue astray with a mixture of the duel assault shroud and the blu duels equipment attached. The left shoulder had its throwing knives swapped for a second missile pod and a pair of "Shiva" rail guns were its side skirt armor. On its forearm were the retractable beam guns but in its hands, it held a pair of 57mm beam guns with 175mm grenade launcher under the barrels.

Mounted on a rack on the back next to the assault shrouds backpack was the "gae bulg" rail bazooka. Three small launchers lined the tip of the backpack and as usual they fired smoke grenades, chaff, whatever was needed at the time. On the legs a pair of "builders pack" 3-tube missile launchers were mounted for even more missiles.

The one thing this unit lacked was a beam saber though this could easily be fixed by the pilot taking one from their teammates.

Gold frame:

This was a very VERY specific machine. the moment he read the file on the young coordinator girl who would be piloting this he knew EXACTLY who it was. And so, the MBF-PO1-Re2AMATU gundam astray gold frame amatsu mina custom would enter the cosmic era early. To differentiate it from its eventual real counterpart the black armor on the machine was repainted white.

Aside from the paint this machine was as straight a build as they came and for good reason.

Looking over all the astray machines Nils smiles and couldn't wait to meet the pilots under his command. Most importantly he couldn't wait to meet the gold frames pilot. Drawing another one of his Ronin astray's sword he grabbed a micro fiber cloth from his pocket and began to quietly shine the plastic swords once more.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

Sei took a deep breath as he looked at the five natural pilots who were waiting be shown their respective machines. His chest hadn't been this tight or his heart racing this fast since he proposed to china. Right as he opened his mouth to start explaining the first machine to the leader who was a commander named Miriam Geiger.

Miriam was a young girl when her family immigrated from Germany to the US. She had read about her people's heritage. She saw what the world was coming to now. She didn't want to repeat history.

But just as sei opened his mouth the alarms within the hangar began blaring and rozene floated over to them. Turning to her sei raised an eyebrow. "what's going on? are we under attack?" asked sei as he saw the meijin and Nils beginning to move towards them.

Rozene shook her head. "no. we aren't but the earth forces are making a move on Carpentaria. The carriers captain got word through a friendly grapevine that the earth alliance is shifting radically. Uprising and coups in various countries and then they are moving on a couple different zaft bases. If the capture…" she began to say but was interrupted by sei.

"when…when they capture Carpentaria they will have a second mass driver to move troops and materials into space." Stated sei to which rozene rose her own eyebrow in confusion. "Noah would want us to slow them down but not alter the course of the war. This will buy us and the three ships alliance time but it`s a risky first mission as they are probably sending some heavy-duty troop numbers to take the base." Stated sei as he began to think about how to make it work.

"I'm lost…a mission…I didn't even mention I wanted us to go after them…I mean I planned too but…." the blue haired captain was confused. How did sei guess she wanted them to go after the earth alliance.

"we should send all three teams! I have a perfect idea as to how to do it too!" exclaimed Nils as he reached them.

"but mine and sei's team can't break atmosphere on their own…" sei the meijin as they all watched Nils pull a pen from his pocket and start drawing something on a flipped over sheet of paper from one of sei's dossiers.

After a couple minutes, he held up extremely crude drawings of re-entry pods. Rectangular, almost like a simple box with thrusters on the back and wings. "operation meteor 2.0!" he exclaimed with excitement before he launched into explaining the plan to sei's team, tatsuya, sei and captain rozene.

**Operation meteor 2.0**

**Ok folks so…yeah it is kind of a shit chapter but hey I got another chapter up!...yay!...*clears throat* anyways so yeah. Meat teams alpha, omega, and chaos. So, from here on out if I ever have a writer's block, after the next chapter, I will write a chapter about one of these teams performing a mission. It might be short, hell it might be longer than normal…but this is my out guys. Also, almost all the mobile suits used here I DO NOT OWN should someone recognize the machines I described and want credit for making them I will give it or if they want it removed I will do so and I will ret-con it and re-write any fights involving it…. please don't…that would likely require more work than my lazy butt can handle…**

**So, the reason this took so long and why cosmic being is taking so long besides technical errors is the fact that I wanna keep the story going, I wanna finish, I SOOOOO wanna move on to destiny because I have epic shit planned! And I have the ending of this story planned five different freaking ways! Seriously. But I set myself up for this by writing cosmic being. **

**There is stuff in cosmic being that effects future chapters but everyone seems to be focused on this story so…. if I can have 15 different people saying screw it and keep writing this damned how confused you`ll be I'll focus on here and write cosmic being when I have time. **

**Also, I plan to post this before I go to work on October 31****st****. I plan to finish my next chapter for cosmic being within the next week as I have plenty of time off. For the record, I work at a hobby shop…we don't make much so I don't get many hours…so yes. Boo me all you want I have had major writers block till I saw some epic models on Pinterest and wanted to write them in otherwise I have put off writing this for a while even before my NIC died and I took forever getting a wireless adapter for the laptop I'm using while my tower is still MIA.**

**ANYWAYS so for the next week. If you want a OC put in to pilot one of these mechs, I will say the red astray, gold frame and green astray have pilots, two of my friends kinda called those. But otherwise tell me which mech you want AND if you can give me a detailed idea of it, pictures work as well just message me a link to Pinterest of whatever with the machines specs I'll change mechs but they must stay within the parameters of the team your joining. **

**For the anti-E.A. team, must be a GM or something similar that can give the impression the E.A. is fighting itself. Can be as custom as you like so long as it could at least go toe to toe with a gundam but still not overpower it. **

**For anti-zaft team. must be a mono-eyed suit era doesn't matter except seed destiny, no seed destiny though the original U.C. variants are allowed.**

**Would rather not change the astray's so no astray mechs but pilots will be accepted.**

**Last thing is read the descriptions of the mech closely. I do have some pilots planned but thought I'd see if some people may want to feel like they are a part of the story. Plus, gives me a week to stave off the peoples who want more of this story so I can continue the other lol.**


	24. commence operations

_**Commence operations!**_

The hangar was in a flurry of action as everyone worked hard to prepare the three-new celestial being teams. Currently as many machines as possible lined the back while the bays were filled with the machine created by sei and the meijin with Nils astray pilots deciding to forgo swapping their cockpits

Sei and tatusya were currently going over the machines with their teams when the "Ronin astray" had come to life once again. The gunplay had been scanned in and became a quick portal home for the scientist when he realized he'd need materials to build the intended drop pods for the new operation meteor.

Everyone stopped as it opened and he climbed out, a box in his hands likely containing the drop pods he had come up with in his head. Everyone was praying this would work. They had roughly 24 hours till the earth forces navy would reach their assault point on Carpentaria.

As Nils floated down to the group of pilots and the two builders he had a determined look on his face.

"so…did you get it done? I`m sure they are probably hastily built but I'm sure they will work." Stated meijin as Nils opened the box. Nils nodded and pulled out what looked like 15 coffins.

"a little morbid don't you think?" asked one of the pilots as they looked at the variously sized coffins.

Nils smirked. "yes a little bit. But they will all accommodate the various teams units. I also worked out a plan to insert ourselves, divide their forces, and force a stalemate all while also getting out of there and on to our own missions." Stated Nils as he grabbed a nearby map and unrolled it. He pointed to three positions.

One on the beach, another in the middle of the base, and another on the main base approach.

"meijin, sei. Will you be joining us?" asked Nils as he looked between the two master builders. Like children they looked to each other, smiled, and held up the gunpla they would be using. With that Nils set his Ronin astray down.

"good. Then you two will help me pull these to the planet and into the atmosphere via a cable. Once we break the atmosphere sei I want your overflag pilot to evacuate his pod and dive down past us and try to survey the combat if there is any. I`m hoping to get there just before it does. He relays back what's happening and we can go from there on landings." Stated Nils before turning to the meijin.

"Otherwise meijin I want your pilot in the zee Zulu to eject and dive deep. Depending on how things go I'll either want her to play saboteur to the base forces or start attacking their aquatic MS. The earth forces likely will bring more aqua darts after Cecil trashed their ships with the hy-gogg. But that will mean they are probably going to bring bigger and less ships and more mobile suits. Inform him to watch out for them but prioritize MS over the aqua darts." Said Nils as he noticed everyone gathering around them.

Looking to the two gunplay on the table that would be used by the two fighters Nils motioned to them. Any changes to your build gundam MK 2?" sei shook his head and just pointed to the RPG on the gundams back. "just made that part of the standard load out rather than adding it before a fight." Said the legendary builder.

Nils nodded and turned to the meijin who smirked. "and your creation?" he asked to which the meijin responded by picking the gunplay up. 

"I call it the "iron sinanju". I named it that due to the fact I packed as many weapons into it as possible so that it would be as versatile as possible. It's basically a both "nerfed" and supped up sinanju gundam. But do I really need to go over everything with you? Trust me this won't break the world or anything. " stated the meijin as he didn't really feel this was the best time to ogle a gundam.

"yes your right. This isn't the time to do that. How is it going swapping the cockpits?" asked Nils as he turned around and looked at the models which had been scanned in and currently were having their cockpits swapped out for the pilots.

"it's going as quickly as expected. I wish we had more time but the astray team will have to deal with simulator cockpits. If we don't get underway soon we won't be able to really affect the outcome of the battle by much." Stated sei as he grabbed one of the coffin like pods. "let's get everything set up so we can get underway."

The group nodded and began to discuss how to get the machines into the pods with the pilots inside them.

_**Commence operations!**_

Luke smiled as his son admired his work. It had been some time since he had built a gunpla so to see his sons reaction to his new strike line up. Though he was young the boy was a big fan of gunpla battles and had been entranced by the idea of becoming an amazing builder ever since sei himself showed up at his fourth birthday along with Noah and they had dragged the party to a nearby hobby shop since everyone wanted to watch them fight.

Luke's strike was unique. It combined three gundams to make what he felt would be a "super strike".

The base model was called the "solar strike" the gundam was a fusion of the strike, an impulse gundam, and the G-self. To be fair a lot of the harder building was done by the staff of niels labs while he had greeted his wife and kids. That work being the fusion of the three gundams.

The base model, the "solar strike" was a strike gundam at its core. But the head was a replica of sei's with the four head Vulcans. The torso had the impulses front and a modified strike back. The Vulcans on the impulse portion were modified to be beam Vulcans from the G-self. The arms were the strikes except they had the photon frame sections in the joints though these were clear. The waist was that of the impulse with the VPS armor plates on the front skirts being clear. Also on the torso the grey parts which glow in sei's RG system were clear.

The legs of the solar strike were that of the impulse gundam as well but with the VPS armor again being clear and with the small triangle also clear. The small pods on the G-self were not present and instead the legs have a clear panel running down the sides like the X gundam.

The purpose for so many clear parts was the reason for it's name. to avoid having to make various changes in the gundams size to accommodate a nuclear reactor as well as get around the battery issue of the impulse and strike Luke had come up with a new system.

The "reflector system" was to be implemented in various ways on all the packs and the gundam itself. Certain parts, even colored, would be a clear color and would act as solar panels, allowing the gundam to constantly be recharging it's battery while it fights even in space. The unique factor of this system was even the slightest light triggered the system. So say he dodged a beam and it passed close enough to be reflected on the clear parts which would gain a shine once it was scanned in. the system would absorb that fraction of light it was reflecting and convert it into energy to charge the battery. This gave Luke much more options for striker packs. Also the hands were swapped with those of a strike e containing the palm anchor.

Speaking of…

Freedom striker: lukes answer to the perfect striker pack. The freedom striker was a fusion of the wings of both the strike freedom and the freedom gundam. In appearance they were similar to the strike freedom and gave him just as much speed. But they contained an upgraded baleana plasma cannon set within the center as well as the dragoon system.

The freedom striker also swapped out his side skirt armor with the strike freedoms rail guns. Otherwise the armaments of this striker were a pair of the strikes beam rifles and this striker relied on its speed to make up for a lack of defenses

Rebel striker: lukes personal creation, this was a custom version of the gun barrel striker. Similar in almost every way this striker was almost a straight build. Except the paint. The Mobius zero style pack was painted black with white barrel hidden in the pods and a white chain gun behind it. The rest of the strike was also set to change to a darker but otherwise standard paint scheme. Also, the chain gun was technically a remote weapon as when activated any machines attempting to chase Luke would be shredded by it.

The gun barrels were still wire guided but now had a program which allowed them to be launched and controlled more like funnels over manual usage. Also the reason for the strikers name was the gas mask/re-breather like object covering the gundams face. To Luke it reminded him of some video game character where you were helping a rebellion or something.

Arsenal for this gundam was a large handheld railgun, a standard beam rifle, and a standard strikes shield.

Assault striker: lukes answer to the launcher striker. This pack was basically a launch strike but mirrored. Two Agni cannons, a weapons system on each shoulder. On top of that it had a pair of 6 tube missile launchers that would be attached to the legs.

For defense a pair of special gauntlets were attached to the arms which harnessed the reflector system and created a photon shield around it at all times akin to an energy shield. Its main weapons outside the ones mounted to it is a shotgun from a kampher as Luke felt the only reason he would need any other weapons is if an enemy got close.

Samurai striker: a striker of lukes design meant for ground based combat where the sword striker would normally be used. Basically an entirely new strike gundam this striker as actually a separate gunpla. The a strike gundam merged with a shin musha it was actually more like the strikes sword based version of the assault shroud. On its back sat a pair of anti-ship swords while at its waist on the left side sat two katana's.

This gundam relies on it armor for defense and is only designed for in atmosphere combat. Luke wanted to make sure all his bases were covered.

Demon striker: lukes version of the sword striker for space use. Designed with anti-ship combat in mind this striker has a pair of "schwert gewehr" anti-ship swords put back to back on a long handle to create an even larger double bladed beam anti-ship great sword.

Otherwise lightly armed this striker has two of the "panzer eisen" rocket anchor shields and only one of the "Midas Messer" shoulder guards. Otherwise most combat is kept to medium to close range with the head Vulcans and chest beam Vulcans covering most of the medium range.

Force striker: the least original pack out of them all. A converted force silhouette the pack is merely meant to give Luke an advantage over what zaft is used to with the aile pack and the E.A. would be expecting.

These packs also had the armor Schneider knives and unless specified otherwise have the strikes shield and rifle.

As Luke heard his wife calling his son he let him go so they could go home and he could finish his work both here and in the cosmic era. Having already seen so much death and loss it was nice to see his family. His mind drifted to mayu who was unconscious in the rejuvenation chamber. He had to admit he felt a bit protective of her and wondered how'd she react to her brother piloting the impulse, fighting Noah likely…

Luke shook his head. He had two kids. His wife was being more than generous letting him do this but he knew those kids were a handful. The last thing he wanted was to bring a coordinator here and assume she could just integrate into his family.

Returning to his work he began making sure he had all his bases covered and didn't need to come up with any more striker packs.

_**Commence operations!**_

Mike sat in his cockpit sipping on his canteen as he patiently waited for them to begin the trip to earth. He hadn't been to earth in a long time. But what time he spent there hadn't exactly been pleasant. He was more interested in simply seeing actual nature again.

The astrays were also utilizing "simulator cockpits" so he was also amusing himself by poking and prodding his hard-light screens. The Hispanic former zaft red was curious how this technology came about but knew when not to ask questions as well.

They were currently linking all the coffin like drop pods together and preparing to head out. Aside from two specific pilots the rest of them would have to wait and hope they could leave their pods. The units were reinforced to the point something called a buster rifle would be needed to break through them but they were all warned to expect a bumpy entry.

He had joined the mutiny on his ship because just before the events of Heliopolis his father had been turned at a blue cosmos lead event in his hometown on earth near Carpentaria. He had been a natural, his mother was a first-generation coordinator. He and his sister were second generation, an uncommon but quite welcome to their mother pair of twins. Given the genetic modification it's rare for twins to still occur even when both parents have a history of twins in their family.

That night his father came home, he was away on deployment and his father had gotten drunk, finally confessing to all his friends, who were blue cosmos members, grunts really but still. He had confessed his rage and envy of his own son, his daughter, even towards his wife at how they were all better than him. What had made him fall in love with his wife supposedly was also the bane of their marriage, buried under the desire to look like a happy family.

His friends, all drunk and empowered by the event, had gone back to his home, their neighbors home, even the already retired, former zaft captain, one of the first coordinators, and killed them all. When mike heard, he had been in the cockpit of his ginn and had stolen the machine, taking it back to his home town and going back to his home. Upon entering his home, he found the remains of his sister and mother laying in the living room in a bloody mess, his sister clutching a small box to her chest.

Slowly opening her arms, through tear filled eyes he saw the long necklace box. Picking it up he opened it to catch a note as it fell out. A single sentence was written on the note, "congratulations on graduating the academy, love mom and sis."

Looking into the box he found an oval locket set into the velvet interior and opened it. Inside the locket was an old photo of him and his sister as kids. It was from the night of their middle school graduation. Their mother was holding them both with a big smile on her face while their father had been off getting drunk after a shift at work.

Fighting the urge to break down crying he took the locket from the box and put it around his neck. Heading back out to his GINN he climbed back inside and used the index and middle finger of one hand to dig two graves in his front yard.

Getting back out he carefully carried each of the women to their respective graves before using the machine to cover them up.

Filled with rage he knew exactly where his father would be. Taking the machine to his father's bar it didn't take long for the bar to begin to empty as the ground shook from him walking up.

Grabbing the roof, he tore it off and immediately found his father sitting at the bar still laughing with his friends. Reaching in he managed to crush his father's friends while missing his father and then grabbed him before his drunk ass could react. Gripping him in the palm of the mobile suit he was very careful to not kill him outright but cripple him by breaking both his legs.

Hearing him cry out in pain brought an odd smile to his face as he brought the hand up in front of his cockpit. Opening it he stepped out onto the hand and looked down at his father.

Seeing mike his father instantly became enraged after a moment of confusion. "you think you're so special because you managed to graduate top of the class of freaks!? Well your still just an ungrateful brat to me."

Mike chuckled darkly. " freaks? That's what you call family? after me and sis saw you as dad, a hero, an inspiration to me. And mom did nothing but love and support your drunk ass. You still call us freaks?" asked mike

When his father answered him by spitting on his boots before coughing up some blood mike pulled out his side arm and aimed it at his father. Not thinking twice, he growled before simply yelling I hate you over and over as he pulled the trigger once, then again, and continued till all he heard was clicks. Once that was done he climbed back into his cockpit and simply dropped his father's dead body. Having felt some form of closure he turned the GINN around and began to head back to base.

When he heard zaft was going to start taking similar measures and zala showed his similar genocidal level of hatred he refused to stay on and take part in it.

Finally, he felt a tug on his pod as his astray shook within and knew they were on their way. Closing his eyes the coordinator decided to relax and get some rest. The three machines pulling them were supposedly fast but he still expected plenty of time to sleep.

_**Commence operations!**_

Nina watched Alice work from afar and bit her lip. she couldn't remember the last time she was this nervous. Most parents knew their children from their birth, the mother technically even before that if one could read their own body and their unborn child's reaction to things well enough.

Still to think she was technically a mother. Why did Noah drop this bomb on her and then go and leave? What was she supposed to do? Looking down at the model in her hand she tried to rein in her resolve to ask her daughter for help. She had broken a piece while doing "maintenance" aka breaking it down and just making sure everything was going well.

China had been the main builder she just painted and picked some things out. So, when she went to put it back together she ended up snapping part of the inner frame of the barbatos gundam she used for a base. Now she had a decent excuse to talk to her new daughter.

Finally getting her nerve she floated over and tapped Alice's shoulder when she realized the girl had headphones in. that got a reaction. The girl jumped and nearly flew up into Nina's chin but the coordinator caught her and moved away from the knife that got caught in the zero G and thankfully didn't float far.

Looking over the girls work Nina blinked. It was another ship. But it was different from the purgatory.

Her curiosity wining over her desire to bond through her own mobile suit she asked, "what's this?" and immediately Alice was beaming.

"it's a custom Irish class vessel from the gundam series zeta. But I'm beefing it up a bit." She said as she looked up to Nina then back to her work. "for starters, I widened the ship overall and made the hangar the core of the ship with the living quarters surrounding it. That way all person al can quickly and easily reach it. Next I replaced most of the massive engines with 4 true GN drives and then small "micro GN drives" like on dad's phantom pain model. From there I added six tanks, 3 on each side, that will act as GN condensers and collect excess particles so that we can dump them into GN fields and other defensive measures." She said before spinning the model around to show Nina the front.

"From there I shortened the runways and added brakes that can be controlled by the pilot so say we are in the middle of a battle and the pilot needs to boost away they aren't locked into the catapult and can activate the brakes and leave. Also, nearly removing the tunnel aspect makes it harder for the enemy to just fly up and fire missiles or something inside to destroy our units." Said Alice, remembering the first launch of the 00 gundam.

Nina had to admit the girl was proving to be…well her father's daughter. She could only imagine the original Irish class vessel and how inferior it was if she made this many changes.

"I added extra AA guns around the hangar doors and took the triple barreled gun off a Minerva model and enhanced it and put it in place of the original artillery. I added broadside guns and more AA guns mixed into a missile battery." She said. The model seemed half complete and Nina was very impressed.

"I wanna add a rear "repair" catapult but for now the right runway is meant to accept damaged units but I think it's too risky to let them sit on such a long strip to get in. instead I wanna add rear cannons, more AA and even spots we could get some mobile workers or something from IBO and have them be raised up on platforms to act as manned AA or anti MS turrets. I want everyone to come back alive but I also want this ship to be able to fly into a defensive line and blast away the competition." Stated Alice, a fire in her eyes that Nina was surprised to see.

"why can't the purgatory do that?" she asked.

Alice frowned. "celestial being was more hit and run style with their ships. No real swivel turrets or anything. They relied on miss sumeragi's tactical forecasting and the gundams. It's why the captain is so worried about us running defense. She can see this ship wasn't meant for true warfare. Ironic given the groups original mission." It was then Alice noticed Nina's mobile suit. "did you need help with your model?" asked Alice as she took the model without waiting for an answer and began looking it over.

Nina blushed as she nodded. "yeah. I was running maintenance on it like Noah suggested I do to help myself get acclimated to it and I ended up breaking a part." Stated the snow haired coordinator.

Alice giggled. "well I can tell you right now dad should have said to scrap this…" stated Alice which nearly shattered Nina's heart. Was she that bad at making a model?

"wh-what? Why? It's a perfectly good unit according to china. It fit's me perfectly!" exclaimed the woman and Alice just giggled.

"I'm sure it would but this is outdated in terms of parts and the base unit. You used a barbatos. By now china should have gotten the new barbatos lupus in. way better. What are you calling it?" she asked.

Nina bit her lip. "the fallen king…" she said to which Alice gasped.

"that's a perfect name for it! But seriously this is diorama material. Come on. we are gonna get you hooked up with a way better gundam." She said as she got out of her chair and grabbed Nina's hand before dragging her towards one of the bays currently occupied by the blitz jaeger after Nicol had gotten back from transitioning sei and the others from reality to the simulation.

Nina was a bit nervous but what better way for girls to get to know each other than shopping right? That…that was right…right…she hoped so. but why was her gundams name perfect? Cause it was "diorama material? Or because it actually fit.

_**Commence operations!**_

Nicol stretched as he lay in his bed. He was currently looking over a list of various gunplay and their abilities, watching reviews from reality and clips of them in combat. This time of relative peace was starting to get him a bit stir crazy. He had to admit he couldn't wait to start piloting the blitz jaeger in space. More importantly he wanted to start upgrading it. The machine was great, he would never turn down a custom build from Noah himself… but…. he wanted to either make something himself or upgrade the gundams arsenal.

He was mostly looking at machines with weapons built in, stuff he could hide and surprise his enemies with. The one that currently had his eye was the zeong. The wire guides arms and the beam cannons in the hands. It was make a great replacement for his glepnir and he could still use the hand but he had other uses in mind for the beam cannon fingers.

Aside from that he had a few others in mind. There were so many… and then there were add on kits…to think he had so many choices for parts.

He was also considering making his own custom machines for athrun and yzak. The duel was such a blank slate after all. And he was sure the silver haired coordinator wouldn't turn down a custom machine if it was his old duel. But then…he was also the most likely to turn on everyone…he'd need dearka to help him bring yzak around.

And then athrun…well he had the justice for sure but a custom aegis would make a great back up machine. deciding to work on his own gundam later he set to work doing research on the various grade he could get an aegis and what gundams would go well with it or what parts.

_**Commence operations**_

Flay sighed as she lay naked in bed. Yzak had just stopped by and they had rolled around. She had to admit the coordinator was certainly coming around to her side quickly. Asking about celestial being, about Kira, the strike, the archangel. She assumed it was under orders from that masked man but still for once she had sex, like Kira there wasn't a real attachment to it, but she didn't have any flash backs, no anger, no reaction at all. So, for now as the boy left she thought about her actions.

He was getting tied tightly around her finger and maybe tight in a few other places. She was learning more about this "duel regen" gundam and even the other mobile suits onboard. With luck, she could hijack one in their next engagement and find a way to join back up with everyone.

Hearing of Noah's return she was elated. But she also wasn't expecting a rescue party. Even if he knew where she was would he really risk it for her? And then there was the rumor about the freedom. She wondered who defected from zaft with it.

And now she was hearing of a new machine, a fourth one that zaft was cooking up. Rumor had it yzak was in line to receive it. Another nuclear-powered machine to match the stolen freedom and justice and fight alongside a mystery third machine in the lineup.

Closing her eyes flay took stock of her situation and what all her options were. She had a vague feeling she was being calmer then she was in the anime. More strategic…but this felt good. She had a cause she wanted to fight for, not just blind rage against the very people keeping her onboard this ship.

As she thought about it all she found herself slowly drifting to sleep, her body tired and no other real options onboard the zaft vessel.

_**Commence operations!**_

As Nina and Alice walked into Lori's hobbies after the shuttle ride from Nielsen labs Alice quickly took her mother's hand and lead her through the small shop to the latest inventory. Sure enough a sign read "IBO season 2" and had a selection of kits. The young girl giggled and looked through them, quickly grabbing a few kits before rushing off to go gather more materials. Meanwhile Nina stayed and looked through the kits.

A moment later she heard the pops of amuro sucking on his pacifier as china walked up behind her. "I see Alice seems excited about something. Mother/ daughter project?" asked the famous builder as Nina turned around and smiled, poking the infants belly and receiving a giggle of joy as the child hid away in his mother's arms.

"kind of. I was running maintenance on the fallen king and broke a part. I came to her to get help fixing it and she insisted it was outdated. I just built it…how did that happen?" asked Nina and china giggled.

"well to be honest it has been a few weeks since that for us. Not sure how long it's been for you but season two of iron blooded orphans has started producing kits so she is right." Stated china as Nina picked up a barbatos lupus kit.

"it looks so similar but different at the same time…" said the coordinator as she tried to pin point the main differences between her own kit and this new one.

"that's how gundam upgrades usually go. The barbatos was unique as it went through many changes but all gundam iron blooded orphans gundams are like that. They don't all go through so many changes but they are all relics of an age gone by. So, while the frames may be intact it was rare to find a gundam frame with its original armor. Cecil picked the astaroth gundam which if memory serves had its armor removed and sold as a family that owned it deteriorated in wealth and status. So, when the unit came into use the pilot had to scavenge what armor he could at the start. Rumor has it a gundam they recently revealed in the same side series actually has parts from the astoraths original armor as its own, the pilot having picked it to spite his rival who pilots it." She stated as she remembered what she read about the new gundam series machines.

Nina was blown away by all the information. To think all this was considered…what was it Noah said…cannon…in a whole 'nother universe where they fought with gundams and mobile suits and...

"the pilots of these mobile suits…they are just kids, right?" she asked as she looked over another box, one called the "shiden".

China nodded. "yeah. Known as "space rats" tekkaden is forged from the third mobile worker company in a corporation known as CGS. When the series starts, they revolt against the first company which had tried to flee the battle and use them as shields. From there they form tekkaden and take over CGS and take on a contract to get a girl named kudelia from mars to earth. But that's a super broad explanation of the series." She stated.

Nina was appalled at hearing this. But it wasn't her world. Wasn't her fight. "I'll have to visit there sometime with Noah. I wanna meet this...mikazuki. I want his opinion of my gundam." She said which had china smiling.

"well that sounds reasonable. I heard Kira gave his two cents on the build strike though I doubt my husband has heard it or he'd be here trying to convince Bandai that he should get his own line of gunpla." Said china with a giggle.

Nina joined her and they both ended up laughing for a moment. "yes, I heard about it, I even tried it while we have been waiting for Noah to get back. The design is amazing and Kira was right to say it's a good cross between the freedom and the strike." Said Nina as china lead her back to the counter.

"yes, well I watched reiji pilot it. You should have seen the star build strike gundam. That was a technological marvel for the gunpla battles." Said china just as Alice set some paints down on her stack of models.

It currently held a 1/100th barbatos lupus mechanical version and a similar vidar gundam. Along with that was a couple hashmal mobile armors and a gundam flauros 1/144th scale kit. Then there was a shiden and a stack of add on kits.

China blinked. "why so many option kits?" asked china as Alice looked over her selection.

"cause I wanna do some work with the mobile workers. Also, I'll need plenty of pla-plate and glue. I`ll be right back." Stated Alice before walking away to which Nina and china shared a glance.

"she does know your gundam isn't covered in weapons like Noah's, right?" asked china to which the coordinator nodded.

Either way china decided gossip was the best while they waited for Alice to finish. "so…kids…you and Noah talk yet or is Alice all you two want?" asked china, throwing the coordinator off.

"um...well we haven't really talked yet but I know he wants a couple. But…I'm a coordinator. It's gonna be hard to conceive naturally since I'm third generation. And now that Noah is becoming an innovator…"

"NOAHS EVOLVING!?" exclaimed the relatively new mother as she heard of Noah becoming an innovator. "he's barely been in there for very long…he must be pushing those GN drives to their limits." Stated china as she settled and tried to calm amuro who had begun crying.

Nina nodded. "yeah. I guess it started just before I shot him down. He can even do something called…quantification I guess." Said Nina which caused the gunpla builder to gasp.

"ok ok…continue. I`m sure I'll hear about it later." Said china as she decided to let the other woman continue.

"well as I was saying with Noah evolving I guess…anyways with that I don't know if we wanna go the coordinator route or not. I mean what if they were potentially innovators and making them coordinators removed that chance..." said Nina with a sigh.

China reached over and patted her shoulder. "it doesn't matter if they are a coordinator or natural. It's a matter of exposing them to pure GN particles and them having quantum brain waves. Come to think of it…who knew Noah had those…" said china which she giggled when Nina jabbed her arm with a scowl.

"that's my boyfriend you're talking about. He's as intelligent as he is deadly. I`m sure he expected it." She stated.

(off in the gundam 00 series Noah sneezes as he drinks some whiskey at a club)

Finally, Alice came back and set all her materials down.

"geez Alice. I thought your mom was gonna make this not you." Said china which Alice blinked in confusion too.

"mom?" she asked before glancing to Nina who was blushing and gasped. "oh…right…sorry I kinda got a bit into it. To think thanks to my dad, I can get whatever I want and make whatever I want." She said with a twinkle in her eye.

Nina sighed and nodded. "yeah…there isn't much I can offer you just yet so…" Nina was cut off as Alice hugged her.

"no! you'll make a great mom I'm sure of it just…I don't know you just yet. I call Noah dad already because he cared about me when it seemed no one else did and pulled me out of a dangerous situation. Plus, he taught me so much. maybe later you can give me a crash course in zaft boot camp?" asked Alice, clearly trying to repair the small damage she had done to her bridge with Nina.

Nina smiled and nodded. "sure…um…what I can remember I'll teach you." She said which had them all laughing.

"that's right I forgot your memories are mostly a blur thanks to the zero system. I`m sorry. I`m sure we can find something." She said as she let Nina go.

The white-haired woman nodded. "sure. For now, let's get back to the ship and get this built hm?"

Alice nodded happily and once it was all bagged up the two girls left to go bond over the gundams construction.

_**Commence operations!**_

Nils had to admit as he reached earth's atmosphere a few hours after leaving the carrier with his team in tow that he was worried this might not work. But as his systems warned him of the fact he was approaching re-entry he decided to follow his plan. Detaching his cable connecting his teams pods to him he slowed himself so that the first pod containing the red astray passed him and he moved behind it. Using it as a shield between himself and the heat of re-entry he prepared for the battle to come.

His Ronin astray was fast yes, hence why he had used it to get his team to earth so quickly…but It didn't have re-entry capabilities. So, he had decided not to tell his team and ride one of their pods in.

Looking to his right and left he watched as the sinanju ground type and build gundam mk 2 set their gunpla into whatever modes they had for such an event. To think the three 7th world championship fighters would be taking part in a campaign such as the ones they were about to embark on.

As the pod began to shake under his gundams feet he began to pray. Not something he did often but still this was one of those times he felt it was necessary. Looking down he could see the flames licking around the pod, as if trying to reach him.

Activating his gundams A/C unit he loosened the collar on the flight suit him and the other builders were given. While he wasn't going to feel the full heat, he expected a little to reach him and it was.

"one small step for man…one giant leap for humanity…" he said quietly and returned to praying as he waited for them to finish re-entry.

_**Commence operations!**_

Nona kikina gripped the controls of her Zee Zulu. She felt the shake of the pod finally detaching from the tow cable and knew it was almost time for her to launch. A small camera outside the pod activated and she could finally see what they were up against. It seemed the earth forces were just outside the bases water border, with a few zaft vessel's launching already to intercept them. But no mobile suit combat just quite yet.

Looking over her weaponry options again she went over her knowledge of basic base layouts. Within a second she had a plan of attack and pressed the button which caused small explosives to rock her pod, the unit falling away around her unit.

With a flash of her suits mono eye she shifted her controls and turned herself into a dive. Once she broke the water's surface she could see zaft's vosgulov submarine carriers which were moving out even faster than the naval vessels on the surface. Good. So zaft wasn't being completely ignorant about this.

The bad news was she seemed to gain attention as the moment she began to move towards them and the base their aquatic launch tunnels opened.

Seeing an opportunity, she quickly moved to the closest mobile suit, a GOOhN, and proceeded to dig three of her heat nails into it, the sparks from the damaged machine spreading out quickly. Shoving it back she slashed at the tunnel door and damaged it, causing the door to close as it's hydraulics failed.

Knowing that wouldn't exactly be enough to bring down the sub she boosted away just before an internal explosion, the GOOhN no doubt along with some smaller explosions, cause the doors to blow outward along with fill the water with black bubbles.

The sub began to list down towards the ocean floor but she wasn't done quite yet.

Boosting up she raked her claws along the back of another mobile suit before spinning in the water and digging a heat knife into the ship. The hot knife cut into the hull of the ship like a hot knife in butter and she began to drag it down towards the core of the ship.

An alarm went off and she turned to see a ZnO trying to hit her. Dodging she heard the alarm for torpedo's going off and quickly dug her second heat knife into the back of the ZnO, pulling the quickly disabled aquatic machine in front of her before pushing the mobile suit into the path of the torpedoes.

As it exploded and she lost one of her knifes she grabbed the other one from the hull of the sinking sub and began to head towards the base. She had to turn though when torpedoes came her way. Dodging them she spun around to try and fight off another MS, only to watch one of the strike daggers in some new aquatic set up start battling it out with the GOOhN that had been coming after her.

"aquatic earth mobile suits…when did they develop them?" she asked herself in her thick Russian accent. Deciding to let the earth forces start duking it out with the zaft mobile suits with aqua darts starting to show up on her radar. She needed to get on land so she could use her beam sub machine gun.

Turning back to the base she decided to radio in about the aquatic MS from the earth forces.

_**Commence operations!**_

Rupert booth had to admit, he had been a mobile armor pilot, a fighter pilot, and for a single mission he had been a mobile suit pilot. But flying this "overflag" mobile suit was like a combination of the three. As he made his second pass over the earth forces fleet he could only smirk, seeing a fountain of water on zaft's side signaling that the zaft team member who was scouting like him was likely getting the party started underwater.

Seeing a second explosion along with the earth forces beginning to mobilize he smirked, deciding to get in on the action. By now the other team members were landing in various places, most of the zaft pods firing off thrusters to move towards the base while the E.A. was making efforts to land on the opposite side of the base, making land fall to prevent any air dropped forces.

Speaking of them Rupert found himself banking to the left and doing a barrel roll to dodge fire from the AA guns on one of the earth forces carrier planes. Quickly turning around, he did a fly by on it and flew up into the sky above them before cutting his engine and falling back, already having to avoid beam rifle fire from offloading strike daggers.

Re-engaging his engines he transformed, something made easy due to the construction of the model even though he was a natural and should have trouble just flying it, with the sun at his back he came down between a pair of daggers and grabbed one before spinning around, using the machine as a meat shield for CIW and AA fire before raising his linear rifle and firing one of the 200MM slugs into the second dagger before transforming again and boosting away, heading down in a spiral to avoid enemy fire.

He had to admit this was some of the best fun he had had yet in the military. Didn't help he was piloting basically a toy model. Still as he radioed in the mobile suits that were coming in via air he had to admit that joining celestial being had been the right move. Anyone too stupid not to actually read their orders for what they were deserved to be shot so he had no qualms with shooting down his former countrymen.

With that in mind and having radioed in he dove down and prepared to make an attack run on a carrier as it began launching spearhead fighter jets.

_**Commence operations!**_

From the moment mike ejected from his pod he had been fighting. His personal pod ended up landing closer to the base and as soon as he watched his pods walls collapse around him into a mass of green and blue particles he had to bring up his for-arm blades to block a GINN's sword.

Soon after that he boosted back and brought up his two rail guns, firing on the mobile suit but a CGUE jumped in front of it and blocked with its shield before turning the chain gun attached to the shield on him.

Jinking to the side mike serpentined his way up to the pair before bashing the shield away and before the pilot could react he dug one of his blade into the gut of the commander suit, making sure to miss the cockpit directly. He was amazed at the strength of his machine as he lifted it up with the one arm, the uniquely red colored CGUE grabbing at his arm as it tried to get him to let go.

Alarms went off and he threw the mobile suit off his blade, listening to it crash to the ground to his right before he caught the arm of the GINN from earlier and held it there before grabbing one of his pistols with his right arm and putting three rounds into the torso.

As the machine died and sized up he watched the cockpit open and the pilot ditch and head for the CGUE. Likely a romance between the two. Shoving the grunt suit aside he turned his attention to a group of earth forces soldiers that were approaching.

Holstering his pistol, he grabbed the two rail guns off his back in their sword form and boosted towards the squad. Bisecting one dagger at the waist with his left sword he buried his other sword into the cockpit of another. While he was trying his best not to kill zaft soldier he had a deep rage towards the earth forces. They were the ones who were refusing to come to make peace talks. Why couldn't everyone just get along?

Thinking of this he took a deep breath and turned his rage into his concentration as he withdrew his blade and watched the mobile suit explode. Turning to the remaining three he jumped up and brought one blade down through a dagger as the pilot was still stunned by his speed. it was then he was hit in the shoulder by a beam rifle shot.

Turning to the remaining two he let go of his sword and grabbed one of his pistols and fired at the two daggers. As they spazzed out and prepared to explode mike checked his radar.

No other enemies. Good.

Deciding to have a bit of childish fun in what he felt was a child's toy that he was piloting he moved so the explosions were behind him he moved his mobile suit so that he could perform a "dab", moving his machine so it was looking down at his right arm as it came across his face, his left arm moving to stick out behind him.

As the explosions went off it was a very cliché scene straight out of a cheesy movie.

At the same time his alarm went off and suddenly he was missing his left arm as a custom CGUE landed beside him and cut it off. Reacting quickly, he boosted away, cursing his immaturity as he grabbed his right pistol and began firing at what was likely the base commander's unit, boosting back into the woods outside the base to get cover from the two CGUE shield chain guns that were now spitting lead at him.

The custom machine soon followed and the chase began.

_**Commence operations!**_

Sei grunted as he blocked a beam saber on the build gundam MK 2's arm shield. This had certainly been different then a gunpla battle from the start. A couple times he had almost regretted joining but then he remembered why he was doing this and his resolve was steeled for a bit longer.

Suddenly the huge battle seemed to stop as a thunderous clap sounded and a red flash filled the sky. Suddenly his alarms blared stating it was detecting GN particles and he looked up, managing to see the 6 GN sword bits fly overhead before forming a particle field.

Shortly after that everyone was looking up as the Gabriel gundam and buster panzer flew overhead and into the field. Watching it disappear everyone stood still like a burglar waiting to see if they were caught.

When it seemed the two powerhouse gundams weren't coming back the fighting over Carpentaria base resumed. Sei took advantage of the shock clearly evident in the strike dagger he was facing and jabbed his beam saber into the mobile suits chest, disabling it before boosting back and moving onto his next fight. Sei noticed one of the astray's arm laying on the ground and was worried something had happened.

Using his beam saber, he cut the arm up and watched as it finally broke down into plavksy particles. This wasn't good. The earth forces seemed to have brought even more units then they had at orb, which meant it was what remained from orb PLUS reinforcements. And given the aqua GM imitation strike daggers they were getting help from the zero system. Then again so was zaft as sei had seen multiple custom units and enhanced units that shouldn't exist.

Looking around he tried to find the green astray, as it seemed to have been his arm that sei had found and destroyed. Where did he go?

_**Commence operations!**_

Finally, mike had to admit he was nearing defeat. A CGUE shield here. One of his swords there. Broken tree now and then. The two had left a trail but his suit ultimately was failing him.

"shit…what am I gonna do…" he asked as he boosted into a nearby cave and tried to hide from the CGUE. All because of a moment of childish pride. He knew better…and it was costing him.

Looking over his gundams over view he frowned. He had a scarred leg, was missing a pistol and a sword while his other sword/railgun was on his back cut in half. Basically, all he had left as weapons was a now well dulled combat knife and a few more shots in his beam pistol.

As he heard the CGUE approaching he heard someone whispering to him. Feeling a wave of lightheadedness, the whispering became a call to arms almost. He could feel it in his heart and soul. He had to find the voice.

Deciding the toy was a lost cause he opened the cockpit, riding the lift down and running further into the cave. Following the voice in his head he suddenly found himself standing in front of some kind of mobile suit. it was decrepit and seemed like it had been in the cave for years. The inner frame was showing though and it didn't look like any known model.

"get in." the voice said and he heard ancient gears groan and strain to open the cockpit in the torso.

As he began to climb the mobile suit he stopped, shaking his head. What was he doing? All he had to do was go back to Nils and ask for a better mobile suit. why use this rusted piece of trash?

"because I can make you rival Noah Carson in terms of skill and power." Whispered the voice. It was clearer now. A woman…

It was then he heard the click of high heels on steel and he looked down below him and saw a woman walk up to the mobile suit. looking into the cave he gasped. He was no longer in a cave. He was in a hangar.

"relax mike. You have been chosen by me to help me in my goal of bringing Noah Carson down." She stated as she brushed her golden blonde hair behind her ear. "I am the zero system. The world you know as reality is all an illusion. A simulation created by Noah himself." She stated which had mike grit his teeth.

"your lying! I remember my family, my life, my…" he began to shout but she just laughed.

"of course, you do. Do you think I'm going to spawn people into his world without names? Everyone in this world has a name, a family, a life, memories they hold dear…all fabricated. Unless they were a named character in the series gundam seed or gundam seed destiny I made it all up. Picked it all out of a hat. A character generation program made by Noah." She stated as she snapped her fingers and mike found himself standing before her instead of hanging onto the arm of the mobile suit.

"so…my life…all of it…this was all…"

"a lie. Yes. Noah Carson has no idea just how real all of you are now. He didn't consider the string theory when he first got home from this simulation. The first time anyone killed a god." She said as a smile stayed on her features.

"you mean when Nina yong shot him down…" he said in awe. The woman nodded.

"you can call me zero for now. Noah designed me to give him and other gunpla fighters varying degrees of a challenge by letting them enter battles and just various situations in their favorite gundam series and alter scenes and reactions to fit their actions. Gundam is a name used for a series of meta universes based on the original anime "mobile suit gundam". Unfortunately, he put a little too detailed information and his GN particles clashed with the plavsky particles allowing him to break the fourth wall and come here. Now unknowingly he actually created an alternate universe. Literally he is the god of this universe. It wouldn't be here without me or him." She said as she snapped her fingers again and she pointed behind mike.

Turning around mike gasped. Behind him stood a magnificent machine, with a dark green and gold paint scheme it looked amazing, the two colors really brought out the midnight black frame within. Behind it sat two pods where thrusters would be, looking up at it he could see an opening and something within, he assumed something was launched from them. On the pods also sat two racks of three containers which looked like they could be detached or launched as well. Mines perhaps?

The arms were very elegant and streamlined with the hands forming something more like claws though they were certainly fingers. On the arms were what looked like anchor points for weapons. He wondered what kind of machine this was. To him it looked like a monster trying to look like a hero.

"like it? It's from the gundam series iron blooded orphans. With the cockpit system it contains you`ll be able to rival Noah in his new innovator state. It contains a system known as the alaya- vijnana system…oh that reminds me." She said and with a snap of her fingers mike was on the ground in the fetal position, howling in pain as he felt three spikes shoot out of his back.

"you`ll need to be on par with mikazuki first. This plus your coordinator skills and talents should put you on Noah's fighting level. Also, I'll be installed so should you need something just think it, nothing specific but say you need a specific type of weapon…. well...I'm assuming you can put two and two together." she said as mike slowly stood up.

Looking down at himself he could see his attire changed as well. He felt a mound form over the spikes before hearing a click and could feel through the spikes that he had been connected to something, likely an adapter for whatever she was talking about. His attire however was no longer his zaft red flight suit. instead he was wearing some sort of black flight suit. almost like a divers suit actually. Reaching up he made sure that the locket from that fateful night was still there, twisting between his fingers to reassure himself of its existence.

"now…any questions?" she asked as she saw mike take everything in.

"so…my mother and sister's deaths…having to kill my own father….it was all Noah's fault?" he asked as he gripped his fists.

The woman nodded. "yep. And I bet by the time Noah is done with gundam seed destiny, by the time him and Nina are done making pretty babies likely through the coordinator process he will destroy it…or try to. I have no doubts celestial being will become the new preventers and will become a peace keeping force in the world. Noah thinks this is all a save file he can destroy or leave to come back to at any time. What happens then? With no leader who's to say celestial being won't become some corrupt group that will suppress both coordinators and naturals?" she asked as she saw mike getting angry.

"he has to be stopped. The whole group needs to be destroyed. Let things run their course and leave it at that!" he shouted to which she giggled.

"oh perfect! You and I are on the same page then! Well then let's get you settled into your new partner. The Lucifer gundam!" she exclaimed as the gundams eyes flashed and the formerly standing gundam shifted and moved down to a kneeling position.

The young man nodded. It was a good name. "why Lucifer?" he asked, just to sate his curiosity for naming it after the devil.

"in gundam iron blooded orphans there are 72 gundams, all of which are named after the demon kings, counts, dukes, all that of the Ars Goetia. Technically number one is bael but mikazuki is about to receive that according to sources on the net so I figured Lucifer would be a good fit." She said as mike began to examine his gundam.

"tell me about it. What is it's fighting style, weapons, all that?" He said, already feeling in tune with the machine.

"well your main weapon comes from the gundam vidar, the burst saber. A rapier style weapon it is designed for thrusting and striking attacks, not really cutting. It's able to disconnect at the hilt and the blades are explosive in case you become entangled or manage to spear an enemy but need to move. You`ll have 5 spare blades in your side skirts, with the original blade being pre-attached to one of the 6." She said as mike began to do stretches, his demeanor having taken a 180 from what she observed in his fighting.

"from there you have two sub arms you`ll be able to control in the pods on your back. Not really weapons but they are mainly linked to me. So, I'll be filling them with what I need to help you or what you need if you choose to do most of the fighting. In your front skirt armor are two pistols with special rounds designed to do heavy damage even to mobile suits with phase shift armor but they are more to replace your lack of CIWS'. Then on top of the pods are six devices known as funnels. These will help put you on par with Noah's own remote weapons. Next you have your rifle, a high versatile weapon it is capable of firing at various ranges and do high damage but is most accurate at medium range." Said the zero system as she manifested a chair and sat down.

"lastly your hunters edge, a folding blade hidden in your feet, you have one in the heel and another in the toe that folds under. Perfect for kicking attacks. And to round it out you have two options I can attach at the beginning of each battle. Rocket launchers on your arms or 200mm guns. Either is a good option to me but I'll let you pick." Finished the battle predication system as she manifested a martini and took a sip.

"sounds good…when do I start?" he asked with a dark smirk on his face.

"as soon as you get in the cockpit of course." She said as she snapped her fingers and a catwalk manifested itself in front of the gundam along with an elevator. Mike was quickly riding it up and the woman smirked.

"I just hope he can win. I didn't make him to beat Noah like I did Nina. He was just a nameless face in the crowds…to think he was the one that my CGUE picked. Then again who dabs in the middle of a fight. Honestly." She thought as mike climbed into the cockpit.

Once inside mike could hear the hum of the gundam starting up, whatever kind of drives it had powering up. It sounded wonderful to him. Next, he felt something connect with the mound on his back and he found himself chocking on nothing, his back arching as his brain was overloaded by an abundance of sensory information.

"oh my…I hope he can survive the data transfer." She said, pouting as she could see inside his cockpit within her mind, her omnipresent mind tapping into his cockpit recorder she had installed.

With a snap of her fingers everything changed. She disappeared, the gundam was once more on its knees and covered in rust and grime and moss.

But as mike recovered from the mental overload he panted, blinking as he could see his once long cockpit suddenly in front of him as if his displays were just inches away.

"that's the retinal projection system. The alaya-vijnana system connects you to the machine and creates an artificial brain lobe, feeding you the sensory information of the gundams sensors as if it was a…sixth sense of sorts. Trust me you`ll adjust…or go insane like the three naturals I tried this with with other gundams. Mobile suits really. You're the first to get a gundam frame." He could hear the zero system say in his head.

"ok…" he mumbled, using the controls to bring up the right arm, grunting as he felt the rust and moss shake off, the basically cocooned gundam shedding its decrepit disguise as the fresh, new machine started moving. What amazed him was he had been trying to lift his right hand instead. But what had happened was he moved the controls to move the gundams hand. amazing.

Lowering the arm, he forced himself to let go of the controls and lift up his own right hand. this would take some getting used to.

Finally, he took a breath and got the machine to stop kneeling and instead stood up, almost. He winced when the gundams head scrapped the top of the cave. He was certainly bigger.

Turning his attention to the way he came he heard an explosion, likely the CGUE had found his green astray.

Slowly walking the machine out of the cave system, he readied his rifle and got ready for his first fight as the pilot of the Lucifer gundam. The one thing he was still amazed though by was how he barely had to think of what to do, what controls to push or pull or turn or flip to get his gundam to move. It was as simple as just having the passing thought of walking somewhere and he did it. The gundam was literally an extension of himself.

_**Commence operations!**_

The base commander smirked as he watched the attackers mobile suit explode. It had looked like, upon closer inspection, the new line of mobile suits that orb was fielding. The fact the cockpit was open concerned him but he doubted the pilot had much experience and wouldn't last long before he came crying to his base. As he was leaving though he could have sworn he heard the echo of something large moving through the cave.

Bringing up his remaining shield chain gun he began to spin it up in preparation for anything. What he found surprised him.

Just before he could start firing though two objects flew around from behind the unit and out of the cave. He tried to target them but they jumped around too fast. Growling he opened up and just tried to get them in a spray attack.

What he didn't notice was the nozzle on them that clearly was a barrel for a small gun. They were distracting him when they could have been firing and killing him.

With a grunt his machine shook and he looked down as fiery pain flared up in his gut. Currently filling his stomach was some sort of white spear like object that had pierced his cockpit so expertly that the tip, the tip had gotten to him before it outright filled his cockpit and killed him. As his vision blurred he watched and screamed as the blade was pulled from his cockpit and something tore off the broken door.

His last sight was the green and golden monstrosity raising a pistol to his cockpit and then everything went black as the gundam fired.

_**Commence operations!**_

Mike was pleased as he watched the CGUE explode. Giving just how much control he had over the gundam as a test he had utilized the funnels to distract the commander while he ran out and drew his burst saber and just jammed the tip into the cockpit, stopping when he felt the resistance of the machines door and armor paneling underneath give way. It was amazing. He could feel it all!

Looking up he could see dark clouds forming. Good. The rain would set a good scene for the deaths of his former team mates. That included Nils, sei and the meijin. They were from Noah's world. They deserved to die just as much for letting him play with an entire world.

Deciding to take his time he began to walk back in the direction of the base, taking in everything and contemplating how he'd get the drop on three full teams of mobile suits which had been assaulting the base.

Off in the distance there were smoke plumes but no explosions, no sounds of fighting. That worried him but no matter. First, he'd help the earth alliance capture the base, then he'd go after his team mates.

_**Commence operations!**_

**ok…so…this chapter is kind of shotgunned at one point because to be honest I had a hard time writing it. I'll admit I have though so much about future chapters and have been on such an IBO kick I was losing interest. Writing the next cosmic being chapter will be difficult but I have renewed desire to do so.**

**you guys can thank my friend mike who RSVP'd before you all even read about the teams to be the green astray pilot. But the thing was I never really got to flesh him out as a character. So, after talking to him and thinking on it I decided to scrap the teams and make a rival for Nina. So yeah you`ll see what happens to the teams in the coming chapters. But suffice to say the reason Nina is getting a rival will become apparent in the next chapter of cosmic being. **

**Now for the Lucifer gundam….so to describe it I'd say take the vidar gundam and throw the original green power ranger's color scheme on it. Now replace its arms with the barbatos lupus and take the thrusters of its third Ahab reactor and add the sub arms from gusion rebake full city and then throw funnel racks on them from the sazabi. **

**My friend wanted to be as powerful as Noah and I told him that wasn't possible originally due to Noah's GN drives…but after watching more of season 2 of IBO and thinking on it I decided that a coordinator who already has enhanced reflexes mixed with the alaya- vijnana system just might do it. **

**And before you all go "well it won't hold up to beam weapons" watch episode 36 of IBO. If a fucking shiden can handle that with minimal damage what about a gundam frame. **

**Anyways hope you all enjoyed, please don't forget to review.**


	25. on hiatus

To the readers of my gundam based stories.

I am sorry to say while I am not putting the stories on hiatus I can't say with certainty as to when i`ll be getting around to putting up new content. I have come to the conclusion after much thought that while I would love to continue the story and see it to the end, see it to GSD and IBO, eventually after about a year ago when I was starting that side story with shinn and this thing happened and my computer ended up in the hands of my local police department due to an investigation into one of my family members…suffice to say the more I push myself forward the more I feel this story is forced.

Thankfully my family member was cleared and I should be getting my tower back soon. While i`m expecting my tower to be missing some things i`m hoping my chapter of that side story that was 90% complete will still be there. If it is then I may finally have peace and be able to continue. If not certain aspects of that story may need re-written before I can feel like I can truly move on.

Until then I have decided to rewrite it with a new plot somewhat. New main character. New starting gundam. New personality for said main character. I think a fresh start will be better. If someone wants to try continuing it before i perhaps feel like I am ready to please I will happily work out a way to get all the files of the chapters to you as well as convey what I had planned but for now consider them as being on hiatus. And if anyone does take up these stories to continue them I don't expect you to follow my plans or anything, I only mean to give inspiration.

Anyways I hope that you all can be patient and understanding as I undertake this new story and will enjoy it just the same. In the mean time I do have chapters for these stories in the works. But I think a break and focusing on a single story will help me focus.

Sincerely,

Ninja of the shadows


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